Cosmic Sewing Circle
by Shoumai
Summary: A collection of oneshots & drabbles that take place in the universe that I established in He Did it Again & Where cell phones are concerned. Please bear with me and the characters as I try to keep everything IC and enjoyable.
1. Meanwhile, with Ciel

A/N: I know that this story is a Sebastian x Ciel one-shot, but I am putting this in the same one-shot collection as the Claude x Alois one-shots in case there is someone reading this who is following these stories as something like a series since they take place in the same world. Meaning this is sort of like another sequel to _Where Cell phones Are Concerned_ and is telling the event of _He Did it Again_ from Ciel's side of the day. I hope everyone enjoys this and many thanks to Hilaire for beta-ing for me. (Bows)

Disclaimer: If I owned it these would be made into canon OVAs. So, needless to say, nope. Don't own it.

* * *

**Meanwhile, with Ciel**

* * *

From the very moment the day started, Ciel knew something was wrong. In waking up, he felt even more tired than usual, like someone had a mastiff sitting on his chest. With a groan, he cracked his eyes open to try and look at the clock. _6 a.m. There's no school because of the remodeling so what am I doing awake? _A hard cough answered the unspoken question. No. No, no, **no.** He was not sick. He was Ciel Phantomhive – he absolutely refused to be sick.

Sadly, his body didn't listen to that line of logic.

_Fine. All I have to do is get up, take some medicine and then sleep it off. _Ciel thought stubbornly. There was no way on earth he was going to lose to a simple cold. Getting up and the heading downstairs proved to be a challenge, however, and he ended up clinging to the banister like a lifeline so he wouldn't lose his balance. Just before taking the medicine he remembered that you have to eat something first.

"Cereal." It was quick and neatly avoided Ciel's aversion to anything that required cooking. Having someone like Bardroy as a home economics teacher didn't exactly give you a good example.

After getting his head to stop spinning long enough to collect his bearings, the blue-haired boy sloppily put together a small bowl of cereal. He ate quickly and put the bowl in the sink to be washed later. Getting a glass out of the cupboard, he filled it with water and then set it down on the counter as he measured out the right amount of cold syrup. He scowled at the purple liquid, like that would allow him to avoid taking the vile stuff. _Best get it over with. _Tilting his head back, he swallowed the spoonful of allegedly grape-flavored liquid and hastily downed the water afterwards.

"Ugh." Ciel groaned. Now all that was left was to go back to bed and sleep. Scaling the stairs was all the more difficult than descending them had been, but Ciel's pride refused to let him simply crash on the couch. He didn't think his bed had ever looked better to him than it did right at that moment.

Climbing in under his warm comforter, the boy lay still for a second before rolling over. _This isn't right. _His stomach was twisting and clenching in ways he simply did not want it to. His breathing was uneven now and he kicked the covers off.

Cold air rushed all around him, making him shiver violently, but also calming his stomach. _Wait. I can't stand to be warm... DAMN! _Clapping a hand over his mouth, Ciel stumbled into the bathroom that connected to his room and forfeited the contents of his stomach into the toilet.

So much for that 'just a cold' theory.

Once he was down to dry heaves, he sat on the cold floor trembling. Bringing his hands up to run through his hair, he hunched forward slightly. "I can't be throwing up. Not today." He had plans for today. Sebastian was going to be getting off early and he and Ciel had made plans to go somewhere. No, it was not a date. No, he wasn't that eager to spend time with Sebastian, the young Phantomhive tried to tell himself. They had just planned to go somewhere Sebastian was interested in seeing – never mind the fact that Sebastian had yet to tell him **where** it was they were supposed to go.

Ciel stood up and flushed the toilet before heading over to the sink to rinse the sour taste out of his mouth. Spitting the water back out, he chanced a look at his reflection in the mirror. Pale complexion, sweat beading up on his face, breathing still a bit ragged. All reports were in – he looked like crap.

"Sebastian." He murmured to himself, frowning when he realized what he'd said. He didn't know where the habit came from, but in his worst moments he always ended up saying the older man's name, like he could hear Ciel and was going to come rushing to his rescue. _Ridiculous. What am I? Some little princess who needs a black-clad knight to save her like a bad goth romance novel?_ All the same, he'd have to call the man to cancel their plans for today. Whether Ciel wanted to or not, he couldn't go outside like this.

The blue-haired boy climbed back into bed and grabbed his cell off the nightstand. He punched in Sebastian's phone number from memory before realizing he had it on speed dial._ Must be the sickness affecting my head. _He thought, embarrassed by the fact that he'd memorized the number to begin with. Ciel hit the 'send' button and held the phone to his ear, anxiously counting the number of rings. _Once, twice. Pick up.__**PickupsoIcangetthisoverwith. **_His wish was granted mid-way through the third ring.

"Ciel."

Sebastian's voice sounded smooth and calm, and Ciel could hear water running in the background. _He must be getting ready for work. _"Sebastian – " He quickly put a hand over the mouthpiece as he was cut off by a set of coughs.

"Are you all right? What's going on?" Sebastian's voice now held a note of concern.

"I – " Ciel took a moment to catch his breath. "I'm sick. We'll have to call today's plans off."

"Yes. I suppose we will. Stay in bed; I will be over shortly."

The boy sat up straighter. "Wait Sebast – !"

Silence.

Ciel looked down at the phone in his hands in startled disbelief. Sebastian Michaelis had hung up on him.

For a moment the boy felt insulted that Sebastian would have the nerve to hang up on him like that without so much as telling him first, and that he was going to give the demon a piece of his mind for it when he got here. Then it occurred to him how much that sounded like Alois. He shuddered at that thought – one Alois was already more than the world could take.

Deciding that there was nothing he could do until Sebastian showed up, Ciel snuggled deeper into his bed and tried to get a little more sleep.

* * *

Ciel was awoken some time later by cool hands smoothing his hair away from his face. The boy opened his eyes blearily to stare at the tall man he'd spoken to earlier. "Sebastian..." Internally, he winced at the sound of his voice. It sounded like death warmed over, in his opinion.

"Good morning, Young Master." Sebastian said warmly as he placed a wet washcloth on Ciel's forehead. "You seem to have a nasty fever." Like that really needed to be said. The younger male felt like he was sitting too close to a well-stoked fireplace.

Ciel glared weakly at him. "Don't call me that. Just because you talk about me having been an earl in a past life does **not** mean I believe you." He tried to sit up slowly. "How did you get in here anyway?" Ciel hadn't been sleeping so heavily that he didn't hear the other come in, right?

To the young Phantomhive's momentary surprise, the man laughed. _So he__**was**__teasing me with that, after all._

Sebastian placed his hands on Ciel's shoulders and urged the boy to lie back down. "That's my secret." He brought one hand back to press an index finger against his lips in a shushing gesture.

The blue-haired boy fought the urge to roll his eyes. "You're just one hell of a trespasser, aren't you?" He said, mocking the phrase that the crimson-eyed man used when people asked how he was so skilled at one thing or another.

This prompted a laugh from the demon. "Something like that." He coaxed Ciel's mouth open and put the thermometer in it. "Would you like something to eat? Soup perhaps?" He fluffed up the pillows a bit so Ciel would be able to sit up so he could eat.

The boy felt a little pale at the question, remembering how badly his attempt at breakfast had gone. He started to shake his head, suspicious that Sebastian had placed the thermometer in his mouth simply to keep him from giving a complicated answer, when his stomach put its own two cents in.

Sebastian bit back a chuckle and rose from his kneeling by the bed. "I'll take that as a 'yes', then." He started to walk out of the room when Ciel grabbed his sleeve. The look on his ex-master's face made it very clear what it was he intended to say. "You don't have to eat very much and I'll bring a bucket with me." With that, he headed back downstairs to the kitchen.

Ciel leaned back against his pillows and sighed. Today was promising to be both boring and miserable.

Just as he finished this thought, he heard his phone go off. It was some Lady Gaga song that Alois had **insisted** he put on his phone to set it as the boy's ringer.

As soon as that thought sank in, the sick boy snatched up his cell to check the caller ID. _It's Alois, all right. I really don't need this right now. _If Alois was calling when Ciel knew for a fact that he was at Claude's house, then Claude must have done something to piss the blond off but wasn't there to suffer the repercussions.

This meant Ciel had two options open to him. He could ignore the call or he could answer it. In truth, there was only one option. If Ciel ignored it, Alois would just keep calling back until the phone was picked up and would be in all the worse mood for it, unless Ciel had a damn good reason.

Well, Ciel did have a good reason. It just wasn't one Alois would take.

Bracing himself for his upset friend, Ciel answered the call. The first words were a warning enough.

"You won't bloody **believe** this shit."

Oh boy, Hurricane Alois was in full swing this morning. "What?" Ciel hadn't initially planned on his voice sounding quite so irritated but he honestly was.

"You sound like crap. Did Sebastian keep you up all night?"

He could almost hear the smirk in the others' voice at that. "No. I'm sick. And if you don't hurry up and tell me why you called I swear I will find a way to spread germs through a phone conversation."

"CLAUDE TOOK THE FUCK OFF BEFORE I WOKE UP THIS MORNING! AFTER I **WARNED** HIS SORRY ASS NOT TO PULL THIS SHIT! JUST WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS? THE BITCH-QUEEN OF ENGLAND? MAYBE I SHOULD JUST TAKE THAT TIARA **AND SHOVE IT UP HIS ASS**." Alois' voice was loud enough to make the phone shake ever so slightly.

So they were finally at the heart of the subject. Ciel stared coldly at the phone now sitting in his lap where he'd dropped it the second the blond started screaming. Now, maybe he should defuse the on-going temper tantrum and save himself a headache. "He was probably called in and didn't want to wake you or something. Shouldn't you just let it slide?" Clearly being sick really had messed up his better judgment.

"Are you fucking shitting me? Let it slide? Do I look like some mousy little girlfriend who's going to let him get away with whatever the fuck he feels like?" At least Alois wasn't yelling now, but his voice had gotten almost too calm and quiet.

Ciel briefly entertained the idea of telling Alois that he didn't look like anyone's **girl**friend, but quickly dropped the thought when he realized that it would only make things worse. Thankfully for him, Sebastian chose that moment to come back upstairs.

He took the phone from Ciel and held it up to his ear. "Alois." He interjected calmly. "Do you really think you should be asking someone with the flu for their opinion on this?" A sly smile curled up on his lips. "Or maybe you're hoping for an unreliable opinion to reassure you because you don't think Claude loves you enough to be trusted."

"What the hell would you know about it?" Alois spat back. "The only reason you want me to hang up is so you can molest Ciel while you can't catch hell for it."

Ciel took a moment to consider the validity of that thought. Sebastian **wouldn't**... would he?

The man in question looked thoroughly amused. "Aren't you mistaking me with yourself? Now, if you'll excuse me, Ciel's food is getting cold. Please call again later."

"Hold it you son of a bit – !"

_Sebastian: 1. Alois: 0._ Ciel thought as he saw Sebastian hang up. Normally he wouldn't keep score of the verbal bouts between the two, but right now it was just about the only entertaining thing he had to do.

He watched Sebastian place the phone back on the nightstand, sincerely hoping that Alois would forget to call back later. Now he turned his attention back to his (on occasion) History teacher and the food he had with him.

Sebastian had kept his promise; there wasn't very much soup in the bowl. It looked like it was just enough to buffer some medicine. Grimacing, Ciel stirred the soup slowly. _Well, something hot__**should**__settle in my stomach better than cold milk and cereal. '_Should', however, was not an iron-clad guarantee, and the boy still felt hesitant.

The demon waited a few seconds before he spoke up. "Would it be easier if I fed you?" The look he received as an answer was acidic enough to make third degree burns.

"I am not an invalid." Ciel snapped. His pride challenged, he started eating the food in front of him. He had to admit, the taste didn't make this feat all that difficult. Once he had emptied the contents of the bowl, he saw Sebastian hand him white pills and a glass of water. _More medicine? _Cautiously, Ciel swallowed this too.

Sebastian took the dishes from him and set them down before fluffing Ciel's pillows to make him more comfortable. "Please try to get some sleep." He turned his back to start back down the stairs.

"Wait!"

Sebastian stopped and turned to look back at Ciel, dark red eyes silently compelling the boy to finish his thought.

Ciel glanced away for a split second. "Stay with me... until I fall asleep." He felt his cheeks heat a little and resolutely blamed it on his fever.

Sebastian looked at him for a moment, stunned. Ever so briefly, he could see a place from a time long ago with this boy. A time when those words had been uttered last. Walking over to sit at the edge of the bed, Sebastian dipped the washcloth and wrung it out again before placing it back on the boy's forehead.

Ciel closed his eyes, feeling exhausted. He couldn't quite make out what Sebastian said before he fell asleep, but it sounded something like 'yes, my Lord'.

* * *

The sound of rain greeted Ciel when he woke up again. His room was pitch black and the rain outside was so loud it seemed to drown out the sound of his heartbeat. He was still feeling feverish, but not nearly as badly as before. Still, something felt... off. Something was missing.

The young boy was about to start tearing his hair out from frustration when a flash of lightning swiftly illuminating the room exposed to him what was missing. Pupils still dilated from the light change, he sat up in the darkness, the washcloth falling into his lap. _Sebastian isn't here. _He mentally scolded himself for expecting the man to be there when he woke up. _Of course he isn't here. What was I thinking? He isn't going to stay here all day for me. I don't even need him to. I can take care of myself._ He didn't miss the man. Not one bit. It didn't hurt at all that Sebastian hadn't even woken him up to say he was going.

Ciel's hands dropped from running through his moist hair into his lap, coming into contact with the washcloth. "It's still... wet?" Confused blue eyes snapped over to the digital clock on his nightstand. It was almost three in the morning. Assuming that the storm hadn't just started, that would mean that the wash cloth would have been dry if it had been changed before Sebastian left. "Sebastian must still be here."

The young Phantomhive hastily pulled the covers back and started to walk out of his room. He wasn't even halfway to the door when it opened, revealing Sebastian.

"You shouldn't be out of bed." He said. "You need your rest."

Ciel stared directly into the demon's glowing red eyes and crossed his arms defiantly. "I'm fine." Yes, he still felt a bit warm and maybe somewhat tired, but he had been in bed all day, and if Sebastian really wanted him to go back into bed then he would have to make him.

And make him he did. "Why, young master," Sebastian began, already teasing the boy. "Do you lack the strength to get back to your bed? Allow me to assist you." In three quick strides, he closed the distance between them and scooped the boy into his arms.

"Didn't I just tell you earlier today **not** to call me that?" Ciel asked rhetorically as he was being carried back to his bed. "And put me down."

His demand was met with a low chuckle and the boy had half a mind to slap Sebastian, but he was tucked back into bed again before he could follow through on it. "My apologies, but I can't risk your illness getting worse." He pulled the covers up to Ciel's chin and set about wetting the washcloth again.

The young Phantomhive stayed silent until Sebastian's hands were smoothing his blue tresses out of his face and placing the washcloth back on his forehead. "Sebastian, about... about that time between us that you go on about so much..." He took a deep breath and tried to collect his nerve to ask this. It had been on his mind for a while and now was a good time. There was no evading when you had to care for a sick person. "Is this how I died? Getting sick, I mean."

Sebastian looked at him, looking mildly startled. For one thing, Ciel claimed that this past Sebastian spoke of – true or imagined – didn't matter to him because he was alive now and who he **is** carries more importance than who he **was**. For another, he couldn't help but notice how delicate Ciel looked just then. His cheeks were still faintly flushed, the lightness getting darker slowly, and he looked directly at him. Piercing, but uncertain.

Composing himself from his momentary astonishment, the older male fluffed the other's pillows."What makes you ask?"

The blue-eyed boy ignored his irritation at his question going unanswered for the moment. "You always get like this if I so much as sneeze. It's not like I'm made out of glass, you know."

"Old habits die hard." Sebastian said in a way that so wasn't so much agreeing with Ciel as it was **pretending**that he did. A thoughtful silence ensued, and for a while Ciel simply bored into him with impossibly blue eyes, wordlessly nagging at him to answer the initial question that had started all of this. "You used to be."

He glanced at the confused expression Ciel wore before choosing to elaborate. "My Young Master had to be careful about being out in the cold and getting wet. His asthma also seemed to act up around cat hair."

"That still doesn't answer my question."The boy finally let some of his irritation show in his voice. "Is that how I died?"

"No." Sebastian replied. "It isn't." In truth, he'd rather **not** remember how Ciel had died. It was a far cry from an enjoyable memory.

So naturally, it was exactly what Ciel planned to ask next. "Then how – " He was abruptly interrupted by the demon.

"That's a story best left for another night." Sebastian said as he leaned closer to Ciel's face.

_There won't be 'another night' and you know it. _The young Phantomhive's line of thought was disrupted when he realized how close Sebastian was getting to him. _He's going to… _Ciel closed his eyes as he felt Sebastian's breath ghost over his lips. Having his eyes open when he kissed Sebastian always felt weird.

The kiss itself was chaste, but also warm and reassuring. As the man pulled back, Ciel almost wished that the kiss had lasted longer, but he said nothing to that effect. "You're going to get sick if you kiss me when I'm like this."

Sebastian chuckled. "I don't think that's likely." He knew very well that a demon catching the flu had yet to happen and Ciel was just trying to hide his embarrassment. "It has gotten rather late..." The raven-haired man said as he started to straighten up.

The blue-haired boy turned his back to the other. "It'll look suspicious if you leave my house when it's nearly three in the morning. Just stay here." He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the bed dip with Sebastian's weight. If he just went to sleep then Sebastian couldn't say anything about the fact that Ciel had been rather insistent on keeping him close today.

_It's just because of the fever. _Ciel told himself stubbornly. Never mind the fact that he couldn't really relax until he felt an arm wrap around him.

Never mind the fact that he couldn't fall asleep until soft 'goodnight Ciel' was whispered into his ear.

In the still darkness of the room, Sebastian smiled to himself. While Ciel had meant to say 'goodnight' before he went to sleep he'd actually said something entirely different.

_"I love you, Sebastian."_

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: I hope to do another one soon but I have a lot happening in these next couple of weeks and I really don't know what's what yet. I hope this is as good as it should be and that all those who read it aren't let down or offended because it doesn't meet your standards. Again, thank you so much for your time. And in case you're wondering what the heck the tildes are about I can't get this stupid computer to acknowledge a line break.


	2. What I Said and What I Meant

A/N: This one is a follow up to He Did it Again. The idea was given to me by Hilaire. ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU~! I hope you all enjoy and thank you again Hilaire for being a fabulous beta.

Disclaimer: As always, my ownership is nonexistent. I own myself and will soon own a diploma – I'm counting my blessings.

**0*0*0**

**What I Said and What I Meant**

Alois glared at the clock with all the force of his being. He was mad, and getting madder by the second. The source of his ire was the same as usual. Claude – fucking – Faustus. It had been two weeks since Alois had told Claude he wasn't getting any and they hadn't made love once since then. But was Claude acting upset by it? Nooooo - he was as indifferent as always!

So now Alois found himself stuck in a classroom with the very person he was so vehemently angry with that if he didn't direct his line of sight to the clock, he would most likely burn a small hole in Claude's head. He wasn't paying any sort of attention to the lesson at this point and knew for a fact that there was no way he going to be called out on it. The last time Claude had tried to use an English assignment as punishment to get Alois to listen in class he received a perfectly spelled, perfectly punctuated, essay about the many versatile uses of profanity.

Needless to say, Claude was never going to say anything regarding Alois' lack of attention in his class again.

Why did he have to be in this classroom again? Oh yes, because this was a challenge. He was not going to leave because that meant that Claude had won. The blond could remember a time when he thought Ciel doing things like this was laughable, but hell, it worked. _Of course, Sebastian __**knows**__ when Ciel is challenging him, _a stray thought said to him. Blue eyes snapped over to Claude calmly teaching the lesson before resolutely fixing themselves back to the clock. _I still have 20 minutes of this? Fuck it!_

Alois stood abruptly and started walking to the door. He wasn't giving up; the clock was broken and class should have let out hours ago. He could hear a hushed whisper running through the classroom but it was nothing more than background static to him. Who gives a damn what those miserable little ants think anyway? They weren't important, the only significant person in the room right now was Claude. He just had to walk right past Claude without screaming at him; that's it. Simple, right?

Not when the bastard wants to know where you're going.

"Alois, class isn't over yet. Where are you going?" Claude fucking finally focused his full attention on the boy. He was just as blank and impassive as always and Alois vaguely considered giving an outrageous response to try to get a reaction out of him.

His stupid classmates were still whispering, but softer now. They all knew that Mr. Faustus was the only teacher Alois gave any respect to. The boy was willing to bear unimaginable pain or discomfort for as long as he was in Claude's classroom rather than leave it a second before he had to.

Alois just wished they'd all shut up or die. Preferably both. "Bathroom," he growled. Well, that shut them up. Alois Trancy going to the bathroom during Claude's teaching period? Unheard of.

"Why?"

There were plenty of equally rude answers swimming through the blue-eyed boy's head when he heard that question. Instead of using any of them though, he smiled widely. It was saccharine and a bit exaggerated.

"Because I'm menstrual."

Without waiting for Claude to point out that that was impossible, Alois marched out of the classroom. And then stayed locked a in bathroom stall until after school.

* * *

School had let out and there was still no sign of Alois. Claude took his time in packing up his things for the day as it gave him time to try and narrow down the places Alois could possibly be. He may very well have just walked out the school doors. _And gone where? _his common sense supplied. _He wouldn't go home. He'd have to make up some excuse why he was back so early and if anyone called in to verify it he'd be caught. _Likewise, the blond couldn't just roam around and hope he wasn't spotted by a truant officer. _That means he's still in the school somewhere._

With this thought in mind, Claude started on his search. First place to check: all of the boys' bathrooms. Alois had given him a hint, after all. After a forty-minute search this proved utterly pointless. Alois wasn't in any of them. The golden-eyed demon placed a hand to his chin. Maybe he'd misunderstood. He thought for certain that Alois had wanted Claude to look for him. "Unless..."

* * *

Alois sat in the locked handicapped stall with his head in his knees. Claude still hadn't come. He was supposed to show up all out of breath and actually concerned. _But he won't, _the blond thought angrily. _He doesn't fucking care and he won't fucking show._ He didn't want to consider it, but maybe all he was to Claude was a cheap, replaceable girlfriend. Maybe he got so worked up when Claude kept secrets from him or didn't pick up his phone right away because he was scared that Claude would just get tried of him and leave him for someone else. He wasn't crying, he was **not** crying.

_This is all that jackass Sebastian's fault._

The boy lifted his head up when he heard the bathroom door open and someone walked inside. _The hell?_ The steady click of shoes continued until it was just in front of the door.

"Alois."

The blond tried to ignore the deep, familiar voice on the other side of the door. He sat there absolutely still, waiting for the other to give up and go away. He wanted to answer, to see Claude's face. But at the same time that was the exact thing he didn't want to do.

"Alois. Unlock the door."

Alois clapped his hands over his ears. "Go fuck yourself!" he shouted as he felt his eyes watering again. "Just go away!" He heard a faint, but audible, sigh. _See?_ a poisonous voice in the back of his mind hissed at him. _He's leaving now. You aren't worth the effort. You aren't worth __**anything**__._

A long moment of silence passed as Alois stared intently at the locked, white door in front of him. Then he saw something that made him stare in wide-eyed confusion. The door unlocked itself. It didn't take very long but to Alois it seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Just sitting there, unable to do anything but watch as the lock slowly turned. Watching, waiting, wanting. It defied everything the blond had just said but Alois was contradictory that way.

The door opened by itself, too. And Claude was standing on the other side of it, looking as cool and unruffled as ever.

That in itself made Alois mad all over again. "I told you to go away!" he screeched. He was just so pissed by this. It wasn't supposed to go this way. Claude was supposed to react to being ignored. He was supposed to apologize. He wasn't supposed to just stand there while Alois yelled at him in the second floor girls' bathroom. "Why the hell are you still here?"

Claude continued to remain utterly calm. This wasn't Alois' usual temper; the boy was in a very delicate state of mind, and words and actions needed to be handled carefully. "I was concerned." His words were met with a scoff.

"Bullshit," the blond hissed. "I matter **now**? I barely let you touch me for two weeks and the only thing that mattered to you was me taking off in the middle of class?" He hated how he had to look up at Claude like a little kid. He hated this whole situation.

Claude felt a moment of confusion. That's what this was about. "You said you didn't want to." Maybe he was just confusing the past and the present but he was not about to pressure or force physical interaction onto Alois. He knew better than anyone how the boy had suffered from that. Even in a separate lifetime he was still trying to get over all of the damage.

"I said I wasn't letting you!" There was no denying that Alois was crying now. "Fuck you, Claude! You never fucking change!" He forced himself to stand, anger overruling upset for the moment. "Would it kill you to show some damned emotions for once?"

Claude's face remained impassive, and his body language betrayed nothing as he moved forward and pinned Alois against the wall.

Said blond stood there dumbstruck for a long moment trying to process what had just happened. One moment he was standing there, giving the man in front of him well-deserved piece of his mind. The next, his back was pressed firmly to the wall and he was forced to look directly at Claude.

The younger male felt his face heat up as Claude's face got steadily closer to his. He tried to move one of his hands only to find that the demon had thought ahead and was holding them against the wall. This only served to infuriate him more than he had been beforehand. How dare he suddenly handle Alois like some child having a tantrum. Well, if Claude thought that he was just going to yield under a littel restraint he had another thing coming.

"Just what in the fuck do you think you're – mmph!" Someone else might have accepted the kiss passively or maybe even returned it. That someone wasn't Alois.

Claude pulled back as he felt the blond bite down on his lip. Flicking his tongue over the wound he tasted blood; Alois really hadn't held back on that.

The boy in question glared at Claude, no longer quite so upset but more irked. "'The hell was that for? Do you really think kissing me is going to spare you an ass-chewing?"

"No." The taller male brought his face close again and started brushing his lips over the boy's pale neck. "But I wanted to." He pulled back a little to gauge that other's reaction.

It was met with another disbelieving look. "Spare me, Claude. We both know that that's a crock of shit.** Now let me go!**" Alois tried to struggle again but it didn't turn out so well. He heard a clatter, which he assumed were Claude's glasses hitting the floor, because he was lifted off the ground and still pinned to the wall while looking directly into Claude's golden eyes. Alois was used to Claude's expressions being totally blank, but in those eyes he could pick out something burning. He wasn't sure if it was some sort of passion or anger.

"Is it really?" the demon asked, and Alois mentally swore.

He felt weird, like he wasn't himself. Sometimes Claude made him feel like he someone else that he didn't know but at the same time did. Like there was some big secret that was on a "need to know" basis and he hadn't made it onto the VIP list. It pissed him off beyond words. It didn't help that he was sure Claude knew what he was doing. Those golden eyes were smirking at him. Forget Claude being a fucking statue, his eyes were smirking. Oh hell, no. That was not allowed. Claude did not get to mock him with his **eyes** of all fucking things.

The blond suddenly forced their lips back together and focused on shoving his tongue as far as possible down Claude's throat.

Claude was the one to pull back before Alois ran out of air. While the boy was still panting with a triumphant look on his face, the demon began to carry him out of the women's bathroom.

Alois yelped when the wall he'd been pressed against was no longer there and grabbed onto the front of Claude's shirt for support. "What the fuck?" he demanded. Claude was always so careful with him that Alois had forgotten who strong his teacher really was.

"Not here."

Silence reigned for a moment while the Trancy boy grasped the meaning of those words. Then he broke out in a fit of hysterical giggles,that got interchangeably louder and softer. "You're such a prude, Claude." Another fit of laughter bubbled up and he pressed his face into Claude's chest as he tried to stifle it. It had taken Claude two damned weeks but he'd finally gotten the message. And maybe he hadn't said anything that implied it, but Alois found something in the man's actions that he couldn't stop running through his mind over and over.

_Helovesme,helovesme,helovesme._

_0*0*0_

A/N: Alright, that's one more chapter down. Hope it's still good so far. Wish me luck on getting the next one finished sooner. (Bows) Arigatou minna.


	3. Dreams: Alois

A/N: Here we go. Another one-shot. I know this is a bit different from what I normally do for this couple and I am a touch nervous about it... But my beta said it's good so I have faith in posting it. (nods firmly)

Disclaimer: If I were Yana Toboso I wouldn't want to surrender ownership of this series **ever.** So no, I don't own it.

* * *

Alois hasn't told Claude about it, but sometimes, he has dreams.

Not the normal sort of dreams. Not the odd jumble of crap that never makes any sense and he's sure to have forgotten by lunch the next morning. These dreams are different.

These dreams are all connected; they stick in his head for hours after he wakes up in the morning. It doesn't really surprise him too much, though. Claude's in these dreams and dreams with Claude in them are hard for Alois to forget.

They aren't all nice, though.

When he was younger he used to have horrible nightmares that were parts of these dreams. He never talked about them, though; even **he** knew that talking about having horrible nightmares of abuse would land him with a shrink and child services. He's not sure when, or how, or why. But after awhile the dreams stopped coming and Alois had all but forgotten them.

Then Claude Faustus walked into his classroom for the first time.

Alois had never dreamed about Claude before that day. In fact, before that day in class, all of them were nightmares. Then he started dreaming about Claude.

He's pretty sure Claude isn't human. He doesn't know **why** he thinks that; it's just impossible for someone like Claude to be human. Alois has tried to picture Claude as a baby or a kid a few times. It always ends with the blond either getting a severe headache from the effort or being unable to stop laughing.

Claude doesn't have any baby pictures and never talks about family members which only makes Alois believe he's right even more.

He knows what Claude is in his dreams.

A demon.

A demon Alois himself summoned.

The first time he dreamed about Claude he woke up with his mouth prickling and burning. He got up and stared at his tongue in the mirror a long time. Alois had no idea what he was looking for, but he was sure it should be there.

After waking up in a cold sweat in Claude's bed one night, Alois decides he hates the dreams. They are heavy and painful and rarely end well. They make him feel like he isn't himself and he hates that. The boy is certain that Claude knows about it, but asking probably wouldn't give him the answers he wants.

He's Alois Trancy. He isn't going to lose to some stupid set of reoccurring dreams.

* * *

Claude feels the bed shift beside him and hears Alois muttering swear words under his breath. _It must be another nightmare._ Alois had been having them frequently this last week. The demon lies still for a few more moments to give the blond a chance to compose himself before making his awareness known.

"Alois."

Claude knows the boy jumped slightly before he even opened his eyes. Propping himself up on an elbow, he looked over to the other.

Alois is curled in on himself and trying not to look Claude in the eyes. He didn't want Claude to see him this vulnerable, but at the same time that was **exactly **what he wanted. He wanted Claude to hold him and comfort him just as much as he wanted to be totally independent when it came to this. "Shit." He breathed out.

"Alois," Claude repeated. He didn't have to, but he knew by that the blond liked it when Claude said his name. "are you alright?"

Icy blue eyes finally looked over at golden ones with a hint of uncertainty. "Fucking fabulous, Claude. Toss me my mascara so I can enter a damn beauty pageant." His words dripped with sarcasm, and Alois seriously doubted that Claude could have possibly asked a dumber question.

"What happened?"

Looks like he'd been proven wrong."I don't want to talk about it." Alois says in a resolute voice. He wants that to be the end of the conversation.

A few seconds of silence pass and then Claude gets up. He doesn't turn on any lights until he gets into the kitchen. He quickly goes about heating up some water and getting a tea bag from one of the cupboards.

A handful of minutes later he goes back into the bedroom with a steaming cup of tea. Alois is still sitting curled up on the bed clenching and unclenching his fists, warring with the thoughts in his mind. "Alois." Claude calls to him again, and the blond lifts his head up.

"It's hot." The demon says as he presses the cup into the boy's hands and goes to turn the lights on low.

Alois isn't sure what sort of tea it is but it smells and tastes like mint and with each sip he feels his muscles start to relax. He drinks it very slowly, savoring the taste and reminding himself that Claude had gotten up and made this for him without someone telling him to. He hides the start of a smile by taking another sip.

The bed dips with Claude's weight as he sits down beside Alois. He waits until the cup is empty and Alois' eyes are drooping to take it from him and set it on the nightstand, intending to put it in the sink in the morning.

The blond can feel himself falling back to sleep and wraps his arms around the older man's waist, forcing them both to lay back down. Alois pillows his head on Claude's chest and gives a sleepy, content hum. "Claude?" He asks as he starts to drift off.

"Yes?"

"Promise..." Alois trails off as he nearly falls asleep before forcing himself awake long enough to finish his sentence. "Promise that even if I die you won't forget me..." The blond would be pissed with himself in the morning when he realized that he fell asleep without hearing Claude's answer.

For a long moment Claude lays still and watches Alois sleep. Forget him? As if he could. The fact that he had waited patiently for so long for the boy to reincarnate proved that he couldn't.

Leaning over slowly, he lightly brushes Alois' lips with his own. The blond doesn't reawaken and Claude spends the night watching him sleep.

* * *

A/N: (Rereads ending) Does that look like sap to you? Somehow it does to me. (shrugs) Whatever. Expect another oneshot as soon as possible. As always, thank you for reading it. (bows)


	4. Dreams: Ciel

A/N: Okay. Again I feel like it took me too long to get this up but my beta reassures me that I am making good time. I hope you like it as I no longer think that it sucks. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Maybe I don't own Kuroshitsuji or Kuroshitsuji II but I **do** own Ciel... (Lawyers walk in) I meant my Ciel plushie! (Holds up said plush) So get out of here!

* * *

Dreams: Ciel

* * *

Dreams are just your mind's way of taking everything that has happened in your day and processing it.

Logically, Ciel knows this.

So at first he tries to push the dreams off on history class and the fact that Sebastian teaches history. This only works until the dreams remain set on Victorian England when they are learning about the American Revolution in class.

Ciel is then forced to admit that the dreams he used to have when he was a child might not just be a coincidence after all.

He desperately wants to say this is Sebastian's fault for telling him that he was an earl in a past life and that Sebastian himself was his butler.

_Among other things_. The look in those red eyes had said at the same time.

But he doesn't want these dreams to be real. Ciel doesn't like the idea that he had no choice in meeting Sebastian, that everything that has happened to him is part of some sort of pre-arranged fate. It would make the good things less valuable.

And the bad things even worse.

Ciel does not believe in fate or any prearranged destiny. He believes in individual will and choosing your own life. This means that he is very skeptical about the possibility of reincarnation.

But Ciel is skeptical about a lot of things. He learned early on that having hopes and dreams and always looking on the bright side is a very good way to get hurt. So he doesn't.

At least his dreams don't challenge that.

* * *

One night, Ciel dreams about how he died.

He doesn't remember much about that night, only waking up in the middle of the night to stumble into his bathroom and dry heave over his toilet. He comes close to hyperventilating or at least something similar.

He can't remember the dream itself, but he is absolutely certain that he died. The remainder of the night is spent sitting in bed with his cell phone in his hands, debating whether or not he should call Sebastian.

That night, Ciel permits himself a small shred of optimism. He has Sebastian. Sebastian who loves him and has told him so, on occasion. Sebastian who isn't bound by any invisible fate and chose to seek Ciel out through his own force of will.

Looking back on it, that event may very well be part of why he got sick in the first place.

* * *

Ciel paged through his book with a look of disinterest on his face. He was sitting in a comfortable chair in the office room of Sebastian's quite large apartment while said teacher was grading papers.

He had just recently recovered from his bout with the flu and Sebastian would rather the boy stay indoors for a few days to prevent catching it again. Ciel had no complaints with that line of thought.

Impossibly blue eyes stared at the page unfocused. He had been looking at the same page for the last several minutes but he wasn't really reading it anymore. He was thinking. Sebastian had refused to answer Ciel's question about how he had died and he wanted to know why.

If, for the moment, Ciel assumed that his dreams were accurate and that the things he saw in them had actually happened, it was impossible for him to have died from anything but natural causes. He had made a contract with Sebastian, so he would be protected until it was completed. _But the price for the contract was my soul. If we had completed the contract, I wouldn't be here right now. Which means..._

Ciel closed his book firmly and set it down.

Sebastian glanced up at Ciel when he heard the book shut. He knew that Ciel hadn't been reading it for at least the last ten minutes, but what had prompted him to make Sebastian aware of that? "Have you found that book boring?"

The boy ignored the question. "Did we break it?"

A brief silence reigned over the room. "Break what?"

"The contract."

Sebastian's pen slipped from his fingers and landed soundlessly on the stack of papers. A slow, carefully-constructed smile overtook his features. "I don't recall telling you about that." Maybe it would have been best to outright deny the existence of the contract, but he had promised Ciel that he would never lie to him.

Ciel glanced at him sourly. "I don't have to depend on you to tell me everything." It sounded more like a child's pride than it did cold, hard fact but that was beside the point. "Answer me, Sebastian: Did we break the contract? Is that why I died?"

_This again? _The dark-haired demon stood up. He looked at Ciel critically, scrutinizing the way the boy sat, the paleness of his skin, the look in his eyes. _Something is wrong. _He carefully walked over to the young Phantomhive and reached out a hand to brush the hair back from his face.

Ciel flinched at the contact but didn't slap Sebastian's hand away, instead letting the demon run his fingers through the strands of blue hair. The boy then closed his eyes for a moment, taking advantage of the soothing effect of the gesture.

"Answer me." He insisted.

Sebastian didn't answer; he simply continued with his gestures.

This time Ciel did force the hand away. "Sebastian!" he snapped.

Sebastian sighed and looked at Ciel calmly. "I can't tell you." He said in an even voice. "As you are right now, you can't handle that sort of information. Correct me if I am wrong, but you almost remembered what happened."

Ciel sat still and silent. He wanted to deny it, but staring into Sebastian's eyes made that utterly impossible.

"You got sick shortly after that, didn't you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" The blue haired boy more so demanded than asked. Sebastian wasn't giving him a straight answer and it was beginning to annoy him.

"I'm saying that as you are now, it could kill you."

The air in the room seemed to freeze, and for a moment, Ciel forgot how to work his lungs from shock. His voice didn't come out very well, even when he could speak again. "What?"

Sebastian reached out to touch Ciel's face again, in hopes of calming the boy slightly. "A soul's past life is a very delicate matter. There are a great deal of things that are safe to talk about. Death, typically, is not one of them. If it triggered the reliving of your death you could very well die and I am not about to take such a risk." Leaning forward, he swiftly brushed his lips over Ciel's before pulling back the slightest distance.

"You will have to forgive me, but I refuse to let go of something so precious."

Ciel could feel his face heat up from embarrassment at Sebastian's choice of actions and words. The boy shut his eyes and turned his head away indignantly. "I'm ordering you not to hide details like that from me anymore." The words were out of Ciel's mouth before it occurred to him what he was saying.

Feeling his blush darken, he cracked his eyes open the slightest bit to steal a glance at Sebastian.

The demon had a mildly stunned expression on his face that gradually morphed into a half-smirking smile. "Yes, my Lord."

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: Okay, that's all for now. The next will be another one suggested by Hilaire. Arigatou Hilaire. And arigatou minna for taking the time to read this update. (Bows) I hope it meets your expectations.


	5. Starkle, Starkle, little twink

A/N Alright, here we go. Here's the next oneshot, another idea by Hilare. Arigatou Hilaire-chan~. Before we begin I actually have something worth while-ish to say for once. Black Maya, a reviewer of mine, suggest that I make a note offering for anyone who wanted to draw these oneshots out in doujinshi to let me know. So, here it is. To everyone else, I hope you enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I swear that I am not Yana Toboso writing fanfiction just to see how people react. This means that the only thing that's mine is the AU world there in and even that is subject to debate.

* * *

**_Starkle, Starkle, little twink_**

**_Who the hell you are I think_**

**_I'm not under what they call_**

**_The alfluence of incohol_**

* * *

"Okay, your turn."

Alois looked calmly at the bottle of alcohol that was being handed to him by a boy he couldn't be bothered to recall the name of. The blond wasn't entirely sure what sort of liquor it was. _Something cheap,_ he thought. He'd seen Claude drink high-end wine once or twice before, and this sure as hell wasn't it.

Taking the offered bottle from the boy, he wiped the lip of the bottle off before taking a drink. The alcohol burned his throat and tasted like shit, but he wasn't going to bitch. It wasn't like Alois was doing this for the same cheap thrills that the boys with him were.

One of the boys here - Keith, or something - had swiped a bottle of liquor from his dad's alcohol cabinet and brought it to school with him. He and his friends had snuck into the boy's bathroom with plans to get drunk there, only to find that Alois was in one of the stalls and had overheard **everything**. Desperate not to get caught, they offered to let Alois join.

And the blond had said yes.

They had even made a game of it. The boys would pass the bottle around and each take a drink. After one person took a drink, the others would ask him a question and he had to answer. They were no rules against lying, because the alcohol was making it hard to think up anything believable.

Which was why Alois was getting slowly intoxicated with a group of boys he would never talk to otherwise.

Why? Simple: Claude. On the very limited number of occasions that he had seen Claude drinking, Claude had said very clearly that Alois was too young to drink.

So here he was, drinking.

As earlier stated, he wasn't doing it for cheap thrills. But at the same time, he was, just not the thrill of a buzz. No, it was a chance to get Claude mad at him. Any attention Alois could snare from Claude was fine, and even negative attention was better than being ignored or neglected as far as the Trancy was concerned.

"'Kay then," a dark-haired boy in the group slurred out. "I gotta good one." The boy's cheeks were very pink and his eyes were glassed. The bottle was only about half gone and this kid was already loaded.

Alois shrugged and giggled. In truth, the blond felt somewhat lightheaded himself, but he had his pride. No way was he going to admit to being tipsy this early on. Even if everything was downright **hilarious** right now.

"So why're ya here?"

One of the other boys looked at the one who asked the question. "How drunk're you? You know why he's here!"

The first boy waved his hands in a much too exaggerated way. "Tha's not what I meant! Why'idn't he rat us out? He's Mis'er Faustus' pet, y'know."

The way that boy sounded when he talked almost made Alois laugh again. But that was before the words "Claude's pet" properly registered. "It's none a' Claude's **fucking business**. I'll do whatever the fuck I want!" Alois said in a voice just shy of shouting.

The other boys stared and blinked for a multitude of reasons. Not only had their blond companion just about blown his stack, but he'd used their teacher's name like he had every right to. It didn't help that the boy was still ranting.

" – I'm not some fuckin' damn poodle that Claude can keep in a purse with all of his other shit!"

The other boys kept drinking from and passing the bottle, too stunned to stop the ranting teen in front of them. When the bottle came back to Alois again he tipped his head back and took a swig as if he'd done it a hundred times.

If anyone asked where he learned that, he was perfectly willing to say that that was what old movies were for. It was none of their damn business where he'd actually seen it done. His angry rant was interrupted by a sudden laughing fit. "So, y'know what? Fuck him. If 'e gives flying fuck he'll have to prove it!"

The phrase "speak of the devil" had never been more literal because just as Alois was about to pass the bottle off the boy on his left, the door opened. The small group of boys sat with their mouths hanging open as Claude Faustus himself stood by the door.

Well, except for Alois.

"Claude~" The blond chirped. "'The hell're you doing here? Sign says 'no tightasses around'." Alois emphasized this by gesturing to a non-existent sign in the room.

At first Claude had thought to handle this calmly, but that had been before Alois being drunk had become obvious. Slowly, he removed his glasses and put them in his breast pocket. "We're going to the principal's office. **Now**."

The other boys gulped, but none of them argued.

Alois burst out in another fit of laughter. Normally he'd be either pissed or delighted at Claude's reaction, but right now everything was just too funny.

The peals of laughter did nothing to calm the demon's slowly rising anger. Normally, Claude wasn't like this. He could control himself. And he was never one to get angry; goodness knows that Alois had tried hard enough in **both** lifetimes to make him crack. Maybe it was the cumulative effort that had finally gotten to him?

The English teacher mentally filed that thought away for more inspection later. All he knew as he walked the boys to the principal's office was that this was the last straw.

Alois watched the other boys stumble in ahead of him but was stopped by Claude's hand before he could enter himself. Blue eyes fixed somewhat fuzzily on his lover. "What?"

Claude didn't answer, but rather led Alois out of the school.

"Claaauuuude. Answer when 'm talking to you." A normal person might have just kept their mouth shut and thanked God that he hadn't been handed over to the principal. Alois Trancy was no such person. A trip to the principal meant a phone call to his parents and Claude was subtly possessive in the fact that Alois' mother and father didn't get to know anything about their son that his demon didn't think they absolutely needed to know.

Not that the blond minded this in the slightest. It was those slight acts of possession that reminded him that Claude wasn't just doing this for shits and giggles.

But all the same, it didn't hurt to test that once in a while.

The blond waited until he was in the car with Claude and they were on their way back to the apartment. "Sooo," the boy drew out and then started laughing at how his own voice sounded. "You gonna mute me to death or do you give enough of a shit to say something?"

Claude's hands were steadily tensing and loosening on the steering wheel. He was still trying to convince himself that he wasn't angry... and failing. "What do you think you were doing with those boys?" He tried to keep his voice even but it came off as sounding a bit brittle.

_Getting your attention, dumbass!_ "Whatever the hell I wanted." Alois leaned forward in his car seat, as though he were trying to put Claude under a microscope. It was rare for Claude to take his glasses to do anything other than clean them, and Alois had **never** seen him do so in public before. He could see the amber eyes glinting with – with **something**, damn it! "Why? You jealous? Are you aaaanngry?" He asked in a singsong voice.

Out of the corner of his eye, Claude could see the smirk swallowing up the boy's face and how close he was to another laughing fit. Claude himself did not find this funny in the slightest. Taking a deep breath to steady his breath, he turned into the parking lot.

Once he had the car parked, he glanced at his passenger.

Even drunk the boy was stubborn. His arms were crossed and his expression clearly stated he wanted an answer. Now, if not sooner.

Claude stepped out of the car and went around to let Alois out.

"If I could stay mad at you right now, Claude, you'd be opening the door to a raging bitch." Alois said in the flattest voice possible when Claude's face was directly in front of him.

Seemingly ignoring the comment, Claude unfastened Alois' seatbelt and helped the boy out of the car before picking him up.

Instinctively, Alois burrowed as close to Claude as he could. It wasn't like he could walk in his current condition, anyway. Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply. He always liked how Claude smelled.

Before he knew what had happened, Alois fell asleep.

* * *

The blond opened his eyes and winced. He had a slight headache buzzing through his brain, and he couldn't help but be irritated. Alois propped himself up on his elbows and slowly looked around. _What the bloody hell? Why am I in Claude's bed? And the where the fuck __**is**__ Claude?_

Alois was about to stand up when said demon walked through the door. The man was now standing before him in casual attire, glasses also back on. His memory clicking into place, Alois looked Claude over critically. _Did that alcohol have a damn tranquilizer or something?_

This line of thought was interrupted by Claude. "How do you feel?"

The boy climbed off the bed and tried to balance himself. He felt dizzy, but only for a minute. "Like I just got out of history with that son of a bitch Michaelis." It had never been a secret that even in this lifetime the best Sebastian and Alois could manage was tolerating each other for very brief periods of time.

"You must be hung-over."

"No **shit**, Sherlock."

Claude moved to put Alois back in bed. "I've said before that you shouldn't swear so much."

Alois opened his mouth to answer when he realized where this was going. They were getting off topic; Claude was trying to change the subject on him. Anger flared up in Alois' chest and without a second thought he raised his hand and slapped the man in front of him.

"Don't you fucking dare try to avoid me, Claude." He hissed. His palm stung from the force of the impact and he glared at Claude, waiting for the man to look at him.

Even though the force of the blow turned his head he didn't flinch. Claude pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked back at Alois, the pain already fading from his cheek. It had been some time since the last time something like that had happened. Alois had learned in his last lifetime that slapping Claude hurt him more than it had the demon and that knowledge seemed to have carried over through reincarnation. But it was clear that right now the boy could be bothered to care about that. In a warped way, it made Claude feel nostalgic."Avoid what?" He asked calmly.

"You. Fucking. **Know**. What." The smaller male said between angry breaths. "You were pissed earlier! Don't try to avoid it Claude – I fricking know you were!" The whole damn thing was utterly pointless if Claude swept the event under the rug and went back to 'life as usual'. "WOULD IT FUCKING KILL YOU TO SHOW A BLOODY EMOTION FOR ONCE?" Tears of frustration were running down his cheeks and he just wanted to break something. He fucking hatedhated**hated **this.

That sentence made Claude blink slowly.

_"Would it fucking kill you to show a bloody emotion for once?" The blond earl in front of him snapped. Alois' day had been miserable thus far, and Claude brushing off one of his many attempts to gain a reaction had turned out to be the last straw._

_Claude stayed where he was, still among the remnants of shattered glass he'd been cleaning up from the vase that Alois broke. If he just stayed quiet Alois would run out of steam sooner of later. If there was a burden that Alois did not suffer, it was repressed emotion._

_The blond knocked the pieces of glass out of Claude's hands, not caring that his own fingers were cut in the process. These same fingers snatched the demon by the collar, slowly staining the white fabric. Ice blue eyes burned with fury that he couldn't express. "Don't you __**dare**__ ignore me!"_

_Dropping to his knees, Alois forced his mouth against Claude's. He didn't care about the glass shards digging into his skin; he didn't care that he was staining Claude and the carpet with blood. __**He did not give a shit.**__ All that mattered was getting some sort of response out of Claude. Anything was fine, __**anything. **__He'd keep going until his lips were numb and bleeding if he had to. But he was not going to be denied. Not by Claude. _

_Finally,__** finally**__, Alois started to calm when he felt Claude's lips begin to move against his own._

_It had been four days later that Alois Trancy had died._

Claude wished he could say that touching upon that particular memory had just been a coincidence, but he knew better than that. The whole day had been filled with extremes to get his attention and this was no different. If he'd had it to do over, then one time wouldn't hurt.

Alois didn't like the silence in the room. If it had a form, he'd tear it to shreds. "Damn it, Claude – say something!"

"Yes."

Alois was going ask what in the circles of hell that was supposed to mean, but Claude's mouth being crushed against his own proved to be an effective interruption. He opened his mouth to protest but was again cut off by Claude's tongue. It was pretty hard to argue when someone was shoving their tongue down your throat but the blond tried.

The softness of the mattress met Alois' back and the boy gasped. The demon was so careful with him that boy tended to forget how strong he really was. He didn't know if it was because of the alcohol still in his system, or because he was kissing Claude, or the fact that he running out of oxygen, but Alois was feeling lightheaded.

He fisted his hands in the fabric of the man's shirt and shoved him back with as much strength as he could manage. Once he got Claude's mouth to separate from his own, the blond's lungs started greedily taking in gulps of air.

Even though Alois had shoved him back, the demon was not deterred. He moved on to the pale column of the boy's neck, changing between light kisses and nips. It was possible that there would be a mark later but that was what he wanted.

"What the fuck, Claude?" The blond exclaimed, his fingers digging into the man's shoulders. Once he was able to get a look at Claude's face he felt breathless again. Was it just Alois, or were his English teacher's eyes... glowing? The boy was willing to admit that in that time he'd spent with Claude he had seen some pretty weird shit. But this? This was a first. _And why the fuck did he say 'yes' of all damn things? _Suddenly Alois remembered his earlier questions that the man had ignored.

Claude watched in mild bewilderment as the boy beneath him clutched his stomach and rolled on the bed from a hard laughing fit.

"Which are you Claude," Alois said between giggles. "Angry or jealous?"

With the same monotone as usual, Claude answered. "Both." He didn't need to launch into the possessiveness of demons right now. The last thing Alois would want to hear about is how Claude could kill him to avoid having to share with anyone else.

"That answer... with that face..." Alois thought his stomach might explode with how hard he was laughing now. It was just too funny! Claude was jealous! **He** had made Claude angry **and** jealous!

As the boy struggled to breathe, Claude started to pull away from him. He was stopped by a hand snatching at his shirt. Looking back down he was trapped by Alois giving the best 'puppy' expression that he had.

Alois had sobered from his laughing fit and was back to being demanding. "Stay." He sat up enough to put all of his weight into pulling Claude back down on top of him.

The aforementioned demon moved to the side to avoid crushing the boy, even though he was sure that the blond didn't care either way.

Sure enough, as soon as Claude he had laid back on the bed Alois crawled on top of him. Amber eyes watched as the younger male straddled his waist and combed thin fingers through black hair. Alois' free hand moved to trace over Claude's face and neck and the other let him. There was no harm in letting the boy have his whims once in a while. Besides, watching him like this was calming in its own way.

Resting his head on the older man's chest, the blond looked at his lover through half-lidded eyes. He was starting to feel kind of tired again.

That's why he wasn't sure if he saw it or not. But for just a second, it looked like Claude might have smiled.

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: Here you are, sorry that this oneshot took so long to get up. At least it isn't really short so maybe that kind of makes up for it? Yeah, I thought not. (Low bows) Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.


	6. Once Upon a Time There Was a Boy

A/N: This is my early birthday present to myself. (Is shot) I hope you like it as I hope to update a touch faster than I have been. However, due to the "Black Out date" you may have been pm'd about I won't be online tomorrow. Hopefully you'll see me Monday. Please enjoy this story. (bows)

Disclaimer: According the lawyer on my shoulder I have to put a disclaimer here so... Nope! Still don't own it.

* * *

Once Upon a Time There Was a Boy Who Got Lost

* * *

_Alois blinked and looked around his surrounding area. He'd only let go of his mother's hand for a minute and he was lost. The five-year-old puffed out his cheeks in irritation and started walking. He knew that you were supposed to stay in one place when you were lost but sitting still was the absolute worst._

_The further he went, the less things looked familiar, and it was beginning to get scary. Then he saw someone – a man. It wasn't his father but Alois was sure that he knew him, and his mouth burned with the want for a name to shout. Finding none, the blond instead just ran up to the black-clad man and hugged his legs._

_Claude almost tripped when something locked his legs together. Looking down to see his small assailant, he almost did a double take. The boy looked scarily like Alois. Could he have reincarnated already? _

_Claude quickly shook the thought from his head. "What is it?"_

_Alois looked up at the expressionless man. Most kids would have been scared of the blank stare but it inexplicably put him at ease and annoyed him all at once. "Have you seen Mama?"_

_He couldn't be serious... "You are lost."_

_Somehow, that comment felt like a jab to Alois' pride. "I'm not lost – Mama is!" He crossed his arms and did his best to glare at the man in front of him. "Help me find her." It wasn't a request; it was an order._

_'It __**could**__ be Alois, after all.' Claude mused to himself. "What is you mother's name?"_

_"Mama."_

_This was going to be a long search._

* * *

_After an hour with no results, the two sat down at the food court. Alois kicked his feet while watching kids go to get ice cream. It really looked good right about now; he hadn't had much breakfast and was starting to feel tired._

_Claude noticed this and stood up. "Wait here." A few minutes later he returned with a chocolate-vanilla twist ice cream cone for Alois._

_"Mama says I'm not supposed to take stuff from strangers." The blond child said even as he was accepting the treat._

_"Then we just won't tell your mother."_

_Alois smiled. He liked this guy more already._

* * *

_The boy had just finished his ice cream, and Claude still wasn't sure where exactly to look next. What kind of mother lost her son that easily, anyway? Didn't she know that there were dangerous people like Claude in places like this? Hell, if he was absolutely sure that this was his Alois and that the boy wouldn't raise a fuss, he might just take him and leave. It'd serve that negligent woman right._

_Before he could take that though any further, the store PA came on with a report about a missing blond boy by the name of Alois Trancy, and if anyone had seen him his mother was waiting at the front desk. _

_Alois jumped up from his seat and grabbed Claude's hand, proceeding to drag him to the front desk. "Come on! Come on! Mama's waiting."_

_Claude could have slapped himself for not thinking of that sooner. Oh well, there was some satisfaction to be had in the fact that by the time he had returned the child to his mother the sugar in the ice cream would have kicked in._

* * *

_"MAAAMMAAA!"_

_A blonde woman turned around as a bundle of energy launched itself into her arms and latched on with a death grip. "Alois! Oh thank heavens you're okay, sweetie." She had initially thought of scolding the boy for letting go of her hand, but seeing him safe and well made her lose her nerve._

_Claude watched this touching reunion from several feet away. That really could be Alois, but if it was, he didn't need the golden-eyed demon right now. Though it was possible that his mother was an idiot, it was clear she loved her son. Trying to get close to the boy as it was now would just brand Claude a pedophile._

_Besides, if it truly __**was**__ his Alois, he'd know in a few years. Absently, he fingered the ring in his pocket. 'I just need to be patient.'_

_Turning his back to the pair, Claude went about finishing the shopping he started._

_Alois pulled away from his mother's hug. He wanted her to meet the man he'd been with. "Mama, this guy brought me back – " Just as Alois looked at where he was pointing, he noticed that the man was nowhere in sight._

_"He's gone. B-but he was just here!" The child felt his eyes sting and water up. Even though he was with his mother, it felt like he'd been abandoned. "He didn't even tell me his name..."_

_Not wanting her son to cry, Mrs. Trancy was quick to think of an explanation for the mystery man she hadn't seen. "Maybe it was your guardian angel. That's why only you get to see him."_

_Alois looked at her curiously. Maybe... it did feel like he'd known him forever, after all._

_"Come on, sweetie. Let's go home."_

* * *

Alois stared at the ice cream cone in his hands that Claude had gotten him on their "date", as the blond had insistently called it. Chocolate-vanilla twist. "Hey Claude, did you ever spend a day as a guardian angel?"

Claude looked at the blond for a long moment. It was hard to believe that that question was coming from Alois, of all people. "Not that I know of. But perhaps."

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: There you have it. I hope you liked it and I will try to have another ready soon. Arigatou Minna for reading.


	7. Pictures

A/N: Hello minna. Here's my next chapter - I'm sorry that it's just a drabble. (Sees readers pulling out deadly weapons) Yeeek! (runs into closet and shuts the door) I am working on something longer - I've just had some stuff going on so progress is a bit slow. Please don't kill me.

Disclaimer: I asked Alois if I owned Kuroshitsuji - he hasn't stopped laughing hysterically yet so I'm taking it as a 'no'.

* * *

Pictures

* * *

Ciel's first impulse was to write it off as coincidence.

Then he remembered that there was no such thing as coincidence when it came to Sebastian Michaelis. _It_ _was a crowded day at the park. _Ciel tried to reason with himself. _Anyone__could have ended up in the background of that picture._

But Sebastian wasn't just anyone, was he?

And so, paranoia won out in the end. Ciel abandoned his homework in favor of rooting through his closet looking for as many photo albums as he could find.

There was another copy of the photograph in the picture frame on his desk, but for some strange reason his history teacher wasn't in that one. It wasn't simply a mistake on Ciel's part - there was absolutely no one in that area of the shot in the copy.

This added fuel to the fire as the boy reached for the nearest album.

There.

There.

And he was in those ones, too.

After almost three hours of staring at the pictures, Ciel pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial two.

Sebastian owed him some answers.

Like, why was he in the background of every picture that had been taken of Ciel since he was ten?

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: (peeks out of hiding place) So far, so good. I hope it was up to standards aside from length and that you all found it worth the wait. (low bows) Thank you for reading.


	8. The Aforementioned Phone Call

A/N: Konnichiwa minna. Here I am with a Sequel to "Pictures". (Here's readers mutter something like "wait a damn minute" and go back to read the A/N on the last chapter) Crap! Chotto matte - WAIT! I know that this obviously isn't the oneshot I mentioned last chapter but that one still isn't finished yet. As i am trying to get over my insparational constipation for that oneshot I decided to do this instead because I got reviews saying people wanted to hear Sebastian get chewed out over that phone call Ciel made. So, here it is. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Well, Alois finally stopped laughing and he answered my question. His answer was something like "What drugs are you on - of course you don't own us!" So no, if Alois is anything to go on I don't own Kuroshitsuji.

* * *

The Aforementioned Phone Call

* * *

Sebastian had not expected Ciel to call him that day. Not when the day before the boy had told him that he had to catch up on studying for an upcoming test and couldn't afford to be distracted. He especially hadn't expected the call to be about him being in the background in four years worth of pictures.

Well, this was quite the fix he'd gotten himself into.

"Ciel," he started calmly, in hopes of placating the boy. "I thought you needed to study today?"

"Don't try to change the subject on me, Sebastian." Ciel's voice was angry and just shy of shouting. "You will answer me – **now**. What the hell are you doing in the background of all those pictures?"

The demon took a deep breath. "Are you absolutely sure that it's me in them? Perhaps you've made a mistake." This wasn't the sort of thing he wanted to try to explain, least of all over a phone call.

There was a sound almost like a growl and a small crash over the other end of the line. "Do I have to come over there and show them to you myself?" So much for not shouting. "What gives you the right to stalk me?"

Stalk? That wasn't the word Sebastian would have used to describe what he'd been doing. Ten years old had been a very bad experience for his master in his last lifetime. Sebastian just wasn't taking any chances. Not that he could expect saying that to Ciel to go over well. "Calm down."

A few heavy breaths passed. "Tell me. Does this have to do with – with 'that' stuff?"

The crimson-eyed man couldn't help but note that they had made some progress on that front. At least Ciel was willing to reference it now. "Yes." Since the younger male had brought it up maybe it would be possible to mention it vaguely without saying exactly what had happened to him back then.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I hadn't thought it worth mentioning."

"I should report you to the police just for that. Why?"

Sebastian stood up from his place at his desk. "For the same reason I refuse to discuss your passing – I am not taking any chances."

There was a moment of silence and some rustling. "You have every intention of keeping me locked up in a glass cage like some kitten or something, don't you?"

"Perhaps."

"You never spoke to me back then."

"Do you really think it would have gone over well?"

"...it's not likely."

Sebastian chuckled at the other's hesitant admission. He could picture Ciel's faintly flushed cheeks as he stubbornly avoided eye contact.

"Don't laugh at me."

"Ciel, do you want to see me?"

The response was quiet; it had been muttered so softly that it would not have been heard by human ears.

"...yes..."

Sebastian smiled.

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: Well, there you have it. (bows) I hope it was worth your time. I was feeling heat sick when I wrote this but Hilaire said it was okay so... I have faith in her. Take care, and I'll see you next time (smiles)


	9. Stalker Plus Alois Equals WAR

A/N: Okay, here it is at long last. The oneshot I've been talking about for two chapters. Now - before you guys kill me for taking so long I want to offer one piece of self-defense. I haven't been able to get anywhere NEAR a real computer in two days. I have an internet pack for my nintendo ds but the only fanfiction-related thing that can do is reply to PMs I get. This said please read the fic before you decide if you should kill me. (Bows)

Disclaimer: After the Alois-fiasco I opted to get a second opinion. I asked Ciel if I owned Kuroshitsuji. Ciel called for Sebastian who, in turn, sicced the staff on me. I also think Ciel said something like "of course you don't" but I was too busy running to pay attention.

* * *

Stalker + Alois = WAR

* * *

Melissa Thompson stared intently at her English teacher, her eyes fixed on his face. Claude Faustus was truly a stunning man. Yes, he was a teacher and significantly older than Melissa – but she didn't care. All it would take was one of her smiles and she would win him over.

She had been working on winning him over for a while now. Starting with following him and learning what he liked, to calling him and hanging up when he answered. But there had always been an obstacle in her quest to win over Mr. Faustus. Irritably, she glanced at blond boy who sat near the front of the class by the window.

Alois Trancy.

Every single time she tried to catch her teacher after class or talk to him, Alois had already beaten her to it. It was so infuriating!

Worse yet, she'd heard that two days ago Mr. Faustus took some boys to the principal because he caught them drinking on school premises. When Melissa made the boys talk to her about the event they said that Alois had been there but Claude hadn't taken him to the principal with the others.

Angrily, she bit down on her thumbnail. _I don't care if he's Mr. Faustus' favorite – that's going to change. Besides, those boys were drunk. There is __**no way **__that Alois called him by his first name. Not when Mr. Faustus didn't tell it to anybody in class! Even __**I**__ had to go through his mail to learn that!_

She kept her gaze on her teacher as she tried to reason out if there was something more going on or not. By the time the bell had rung, she resolved to dig until she found out the truth.

* * *

The lunch bell sounded and Melissa finished cleaning up from Home Ec. She hoped to invite her English teacher to lunch with her to eat the food she'd made. Maybe then she could get some more info regarding Alois, too.

Glancing around, she realized she was alone in the classroom and that there was no trace of the blond in question. "Damn it – not today!"

Snatching up her possessions, Melissa ran at full tilt to the English classroom.

* * *

Alois kicked his feet back and forth from his perch on Claude's desk. He was waiting for the man to finish up with some last-minute paperwork so that they could go eat lunch. Don't make any mistake – Alois was not being patient about it. "Clauuude. Can't that wait?"

Claude didn't even bother glancing up from the papers. "It's finished." He started to put them back but was stopped by Alois' hands reaching out to grab his face.

"**Claude**." Alois put emphasis on the name to grab the demon's full attention. "Don't I get a reward for waiting patiently?"

Claude would hardly call Alois asking him if he was done every few minutes "being patient", but given who he was talking to, it might very well be. Humoring the boy, Claude leaned forward and gave him a light, fleeting kiss.

Alois grinned and hopped off the desk. He'd been hoping for a deeper kiss than that, but knowing that Claude had willingly kissed him at all on school grounds was enough for now.

Grabbing the demon's hand, he started tugging him to the cafeteria.

* * *

Melissa reached the classroom just in time to see Alois pulling Claude to the cafeteria. She stood there, blinking stupefied as Claude was dragged around the corner and out of her line of sight.

Once she was absolutely sure no one could hear her, she let out a frustrated scream.

* * *

Being a demon, Claude did hear that scream, but had no particular desire to investigate it. The voice was clearly female and sounded a lot more angry than hurt. No one in their right mind went looking for something like that on purpose, especially not if it meant taking time away from Alois Trancy.

The blond took the expression "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" and put it to pitiful shame.

Besides, if it was the same person that seemed to be watching him all the time, then Claude would rather not find them right now. The end result would be an ignored attempt at manners and a dead body.

He was snapped out of his pondering when he realized that Alois was walking towards an empty faculty office. "You aren't allowed in there." Claude reminded him calmly.

Alois whipped around to look at him. "I really don't give a flying fuck." The boy replied, stating the obvious. "The only other private place is the bathroom and **excuse me** for not wanting to eat there." Once he had Claude inside the room, Alois locked the door. "That should keep that Ms. Berkly bitch out." He muttered to himself.

"That isn't a nice thing to say about your Math teacher."

"If the slut quit trying to get in your pants, I wouldn't care. She shows up every-fucking-where when she isn't whoring after Sebastian."

Claude chose not to comment on the fact that that hadn't happened since Alois and Ciel both wound up in detention on the same day for a certain event involving vinegar, itching powder, and super glue. Neither boy had even looked the slightest bit remorseful for it. Not that Claude actually felt sorry for the woman himself, seeing as he let the boys go ten minutes early.

The blond chose that moment to suddenly hug Claude as tight as he could manage. He was getting so fucking sick and tired of watching people slobber all over his Claude while he couldn't even threaten to maim them for it. Life would be so much easier if he could just gouge their eyes out and be done with it.

The taller man stood still a few minutes before placing a hand on top of Alois' head. "You should eat before lunch hour is up."

Alois stayed there another full minute before complying.

* * *

Because she lost sight of them at lunch, Melissa was forced to give up her search until after school let out. She snuck back to Claude's classroom and watched as he and Alois left together. She was too far away to hear just what was being said but Alois was being awfully clingy.

Feeling her irritation rise, Melissa followed them to the parking lot.

* * *

Claude felt like he was being watched again and it set his nerves on edge. The blond beside him didn't seem to notice it and Claude half-wondered if he was just being paranoid.

All the same**,** he was taking the long way back to the apartment today.

Alois slouched in his seat and looked over at the man driving. "Hey, Claude? Want to go on a date today?" It had been a while since the last one and it would be a nice day for it.

Claude didn't take his eyes off the road. "You have a test to study for and I have essays to grade." No need to mention the stalker. Alois didn't need to have that to worry about unless it threatened to escalate.

The blond huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, staring out the window without really seeing anything. "It's just a stupid Biology test, and you can grade those papers anytime. We haven't had a date in forever!"

The demon glanced over to take note of the boy's upset posture. Time to bargain. "You get your test grade back in a week. If you score eighty-percent or better, we can spend the next day however you like." Alois had never put much effort into either biology or science, so if he could talk the boy into pulling up his grade average then it would be beneficial. Just asking was pointless but if there was a reward involved...

The younger male took a moment to toss the offer around in his mind. "The whole day?" He asked in a way that made it clear he had no intention of settling for anything less. And he wouldn't, seeing as how he had been planning to skip the test and not take it at all. If Claude was going to make him not only take the test, but score high on it, it had better be bloody well worth his time.

"The whole day." Claude echoed in agreement.

Alois beamed. "Deal! Do I get anything extra if I score one hundred?" Nothing wrong with milking this for all it was worth.

It was Claude's turn to think this over seriously. If it motivated Alois to excel, then... "Perhaps."

That wasn't the answer the boy wanted but it was close enough. "Clothes shopping it is – but not on the same day as our date." He wasn't about to be tricked into using their whole date for shopping.

* * *

Melissa watched as her teacher's car pulled into the apartment parking lot. She was mad enough to spit when she saw Alois get out of the passenger side door._ What the hell is __**he**__ doing here! He can't be here for tutoring – Mr. Faustus doesn't tutor. I tried that!_

That was the last straw. Melissa didn't care if it killed her – she was going to wreck this brat.

* * *

The next day at school Alois was about to walk into his first class when a voice called out to him.

"Trancy. I've got a bone to pick with you."

The blond stopped walking and turned around to look at a dark-haired girl with an obvious attitude. He gave her outfit a quick once-over before smirking. "And what the hell are you supposed to be? Halloween is over." He felt his smirk widen at the angry flush on her cheeks.

Melissa would have punched him if they weren't in the middle of a hallway. But then again, she could just humiliate him later. Instead, she growled. "Stay away from Mr. Faustus."

The boy's eyes widened slightly. _That bitch did__** not**_. She had five seconds to retract that statement before the shit hit the fan and she found out what he and Ciel did to their Math teacher.

"He's mine."

_That bitch just __**did. **_Alois supposed he could just tug his shirt collar down and show her the still-present hickey Claude had left on him a few days ago, but then he would be letting her off easy. The slut had verbally put her hands on his Claude – **his** Claude! There was no way in the circles of hell she getting off without some permanent damage.

He stuck his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes menacingly. "Make me. **Bitch**." He turned around and stepped into his classroom, already planning her bloody demise as she stood dumbstruck in the hallway, oblivious to the Pandora's Box she had just opened...

* * *

It started in gym. The coach had told them to run laps and something tripped Melissa, causing her to skin both her knees. When she whipped her head around to find the culprit, she locked eyes with Alois Trancy who was looking as innocent as possible.

At least until the coach had turned his back and he mouthed four words. "Sucks to be you."

Melissa bit her lip so hard it bled.

The day got worse from there. By the time the day was half-over she looked like she had pissed off several demi-gods. During English, she got called to the Principal's office for some graffiti with her name on it, at lunch her soda exploded in her face, and when she went into the art classroom she got covered in a mixture of glue and cotton balls, topped off with glitter. It was no surprise that Alois' picture for the class had been of Melissa's "tar and feathering." That was just to name a few of the things that had happened.

As if to make things worse, she couldn't pin it on him because no one had **seen** him do any of it thus far. She had seen the Phantomhive boy once today and he gave her a look that seemed to say she'd brought this down on herself.

Angrily, she slammed her fist into her locker.

* * *

"...and if that doesn't teach the bitch then it's time to pull out the big guns."

Ciel waited until Alois had somewhat caught his breath before he spoke up. "You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by telling Claude from the beginning." He glanced at his watch. He could give his friend five more minutes before he had to go meet Sebastian.

Alois, who had been pacing around the roof as he talked, turned to look at Ciel. "Are you even listening? I **can't **tell Claude – this is between that delusional slut and me! I've even seen her try baking cookies to win Claude over – frickin' **cookies**!"Alois spat out furiously, already back to full-out ranting. "Claude doesn't even like sweets, but it gives her the 'sweet and innocent' touch." He said he last part mockingly and scoffed. "She probably drugged the damn things."

The blue-haired boy watched his friend pace and rant while vaguely wondering if the other would notice if he just got up and left. He quickly ruled it out as a bad idea. Alois hadn't been this pissed off in quite awhile and this sort of anger needed to be handled with care.

Ciel noted that Alois showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. It looked like he was going to be late meeting up with Sebastian.

"It seems to me that you're overreacting if she doesn't even know what Mr. Faustus likes. Or perhaps you're frightened that he'll like her better than you."

Ciel and Alois both whipped their heads around to see their History teacher standing at the top of the stairwell.

_Speaking of the devil. _Ciel thought to himself as he stood up and brushed off his clothes.

"Oh, fuck off!" Alois snapped. He was in no mood to deal with Sebastian. Melissa was currently in a higher place on his shit list.

Sebastian looked back at the boy with an amused expression as Ciel started heading for the stairs. "I'd hate to see you spend the rest of your free period by yourself."

Ciel decided it was a good time to get Sebastian out of here before this escalated into a real fight that he did **not** want to deal with.

"Drop dead." Alois fired back as the raven-haired man disappeared with the other boy down the stairs.

Alois was still pissed off and sour but there was no way in hell he was leaving Claude alone with that girl around. It had nothing to do with being insecure.

Claude was his, damn it!

* * *

Claude didn't look up from his papers when he heard the door open, assuming it was Alois. The click of heeled boots striding across the floor supported this theory.

A pair of hands covered his eyes.

"Guess who?" A familiar voice singsonged from behind him, followed by a giggle.

"Alois." Claude replied neutrally. In truth, it was good to see the boy. He had been beginning to wonder just where the blond had slipped off to so suddenly.

The hands moved from his eyes in favor of wrapping loosely around his neck. "How many times do I have to tell you to give more expression than a statue?" Alois grumbled right next to his ear. "A fucking **stiff** has more personality." The comment was followed by the boy burying his face into the crook of Claude's neck.

The demon didn't respond to that. Alois was acting strange. This wasn't his normal set of mood shifts. This was his 'I'm-upset-pissed-or-both-and-I'm-pretending-not-to-be' mood shifts. Claude didn't have to see his blond's face to know what expression he was probably making right then. "Alois."

Alois didn't reply and Claude moved out of his grip, despite the strength of it. "Claude? What – " He was cut off by Claude's lips warmly meeting his own.

The kiss was brief and chaste – a rarity for them – but they **were** in public. When Claude pulled back, he held Alois' gaze for a moment before speaking. "Tell me what's wrong."

Blue eyes blinked owlishly at the man, surprise written plainly on their owner's features. Claude wasn't supposed to notice it. Alois was a damn good actor and he could handle one little slut by himself. He didn't need Claude to notice he was distressed and come rescue him.

Right?

The blond opened his mouth – whether it was to give Claude the truth or tell him it wasn't any of his fucking business, he didn't know – when the door burst open.

"NO!"

Claude turned his head to look at the intruder while Alois' face quickly twisted into something feral. _Damn it all to hell and gone. _"What the fuck are you doing here?" the blond snarled.

Melissa was standing in the doorway, her face flushed with anger and confusion. "No, no, NO! This isn't possible! Mr. Faustus can't be gay – not ever, and not with you!" She pointed a finger at Alois. "You! What did you **do** to him?"

And just like that Alois was above and beyond pissed again. "Pull your head out of your ass and pay attention. I didn't 'do' anything, you dumb bitch! Claude. Is. Taken. If you don't like it then fuck off!" Alois wrapped his arms around his now standing lover.

"Let go of him you crazy freak!"

"Shut up you ugly bitch!"

Claude took a moment to look between the two. If Alois had been a cat he'd be arching his back, growling and hissing. Well now he knew what the boy was so upset about. Claude himself couldn't care less about the girl, but the fact that she was bothering his blond was something he couldn't simply overlook. On top of it all, she had seen them kissing. No two ways about it – she had to go.

Melissa took a moment to breathe deeply and count to ten. Once she was calmer, she smirked. "I suppose I'll just tell the principal I caught you with a grown up and not specify who."

That did it! Fuck his promise to Claude not to kill anyone! He was going to rip that whore apart! Alois started for the girl, but was held back from committing murder in the first degree by none other than Claude himself. "Damn it, Claude! Let me go! I'm gonna kill the bitch!"

"Alois." Claude said sternly, and he felt the other's breathing hitch ever-so-slightly. He took advantage of the momentary shock to pick the blond up and deposit him in the office chair.

Alois was just about to get back up and finish what he started, but the warning look from Claude was enough to make him sit still for another minute.

The demon knelt down so that he was at eye-level with the boy. "Wait here. I'll be back shortly."

Alois stared into the golden orbs. They looked blank and calm, but he was willing to pretend that Claude was just as mad as he was. The blond shut his eyes and huffed. "Don't take too long or you'll be in deep shit."

"Yes, your Highness." Without another word, Claude led Melissa out of the room and shut the door.

Alois Trancy did not – I repeat – did **not** listen to orders from anyone, anytime, for any reason. But he stayed still where Claude had put him and waited for the man to walk back into the room, just because he felt like it.

When the demon came back, Alois was pleased to note that the bitch wasn't with him. "Please tell me you killed her."

Claude walked up to the boy and brushed a hand over his cheek. "Not quite."

* * *

When Claude announced the next day in class that Melissa Thompson was transferring out, Alois had to be sent to the nurse due to uncontrollable fits of hysterical laughter

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: Well, that's that. I apologize for any spelling errors. I did my best to check it over but it's a little hecktic for me today. Thank you for reading, I sincerely hope it was worth your wait.


	10. Alois is Pregnant Wait! What?

A/N: Yes, this is a drabble. I'm terribly sorry that it isn't a real "oneshot" but this is how my plot bunny turned out. But I am very happy to hear that my readers liked my last chapter and they should be please to know that I am currently working on something that I hope will be longer than this is. (Beams) THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT~!

Disclaimer: I asked Soma and Agni and even **they** don't think I own Kuroshitsuji. However, maybe I'll get it for my birthday tomorrow. I'll go ask the Shinigami office if that's possible and get back to you. Until then, nope.

* * *

Alois is Pregnant - Wait! What?

* * *

Alois kicked his feet back and forth on Claude's bed. He was sooo fricking bored.

He had been studying for his upcoming Biology test and right now he desperately needed a break. He couldn't talk to Claude because the man was out running some errands. True, he'd be back in an hour, but Alois was bored **now**.

Leafing through his textbook again, Alois paused on reproduction and smirked. He then jumped off the bed and headed to the kitchen to see if he had everything he was going to need for this little trick. Upon finding all of the needed items in the refrigerator and cabinets, the blond giggled.

This was going to be so much fun.

* * *

Claude had just closed the door when he heard Alois call for him, followed by the soundof footsteps.

"Claauuude! Claude, guess what?" The blond ran into the room looking very excited for some reason.

The demon mentally prepared himself for whatever trouble the boy had cooked up while he was out. "What is it?"

By now Alois was standing right in front of him, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Guess first." He insisted, smile not faltering.

"You finished studying?" Claude ventured.

The blue-eyed boy frowned at that answer. "No." He tried to hold the smile back for a bit longer but the oncoming surge of giggles made that impossible. He gripped the front of Claude's shirt to support himself as he tried to contain his own laughter.

The golden-eyed demon stood still and watched as his blond managed to get himself under control. If this much laughing was involved he had definitely left the boy to his own devices for too long.

Alois looked up at him and smiled. "I'm pregnant!" He practically chirped.

The room was still for a moment as Claude tried to ascertain if he had heard right. Alois' next statement confirmed that Claude's hearing was, in fact, perfectly alright and that more explanation was required.

"Tell me, Claude," Alois began, pushing himself up onto his tip toes to be able to wrap his arms around Claude's shoulders a bit. "Are you going to take responsibility and make an honest woman out of me?"

It dawned on the man that Alois had been watching too many old movies again. "It's biologically impossible for you to get pregnant, Alois." The teacher said in a flat voice. So much for Alois passing that biology test with flying colors.

Usually, by this point, Claude would have gotten yelled at for being such a stick in the mud. This time, however, Alois smirked at him. "But after you left I threw up. I have morning sickness so I must be pregnant." He lowered his voice to a teasing level. "And you can't say that the symptoms are too late. Not after last night."

That last statement caught Claude's attention. Yes, Alois was messing with him to try and get a reaction. But the boy really could be sick. "Where did this happen?"

"The bathroom." The blond grabbed one of Claude's arms and dragged him into the aforementioned room and pointed to the toilet. "See?" The blond started giggling again as Claude moved to check.

For a moment Claude almost believed that the boy was sick. Then he remembered the last time that Alois had used fake vomit for something. Calmly, he adjusted his glasses.

"So Claude, now are you going to marry me?" Alois asked with a giggle.

The demon withheld a sigh. He was going to have to speak with Alois' Biology teacher in the near future.

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked it. I am aware I use some old-fasioned terms in these and if anyone doesn't understand an expression or term tell me which one it is in a review and I'll explain it. (bows) Thank you all so much for reading.


	11. Uke's Day Out

A/N: Hello Everybody~! I just want to say thank you certain people reading this (you know who you are) for sending me birthday wishes and a few surprises. (grins) Also, on an important note. My beta and I were talking a little bit ago about how we both felt very fortunate to have met and be working on this collection. With that thought in mind I am dedicating this chapter to Hilaire because words cannot express how lucky I am to have met her and recieved all of her help. Arigatou Hilaire. You are totally awesome. (Bows)

Disclaimer: Well, I went to the Shinigami office like I said I would. The details are too scarring to mention (cough cough Grelle!cough) but suffice it to say that William threaten to send the whole dispatch office after me if I didn't stop harassing people with that question and interrupting their work. So I still don't own Kuroshitsuji.

* * *

Uke's Day Out

* * *

With two days until his Biology test, Ciel had expected to spend it in his room peacefully studying.

Instead, Alois barged into his room saying something about needing a 'girl's day out' or some such thing and forcefully dragged his blue-haired friend out the front door.

Which was how he found himself at the mall sipping a chocolate shake and waiting to find out what the hell the blond was up to. "We **do** have a test to study for, you know." He said somewhat accusingly.

Alois slumped forward. "Yeah, but I need a break. And I haven't seen you since that fucktarded test was announced. Sebastian doesn't even **teach** Biology so who the hell're you trying to impress?"

Ciel frowned. "I'm not trying to 'impress' anyone. I'm doing this for myself." He looked at his friend carefully. " And what about you? You told me you were skipping the test." Alois didn't tend to change his mind on things like this. Besides, he always said that he was 'never going to use this shit in real life' to quote him.

The other boy took a sip from his soda and grinned. "Claude owes me a date if I get eighty or better."

Ciel sighed. "Then shouldn't you still be studying? I honestly don't understand how you can be so reckless with your relationship. In the Phantomhive's mind, going out on a 'date' risked being caught, and he wasn't willing to make such a careless move. How Alois could do such things and be perfectly calm about them was beyond him.

"At least I have a relationship with Claude."Alois responded. "Sebastian's such an ass I don't get how you live with him."

The blue haired boy felt himself prickle slightly at that. "He's only like that with you. And at least he isn't as blank as Mr. Faustus – I thought for sure when you started out with him it would cost you." That was true. When Alois had told Ciel about what was going on with his teacher, the Phantomhive's first impulse had been to talk his friend out of it.

He couldn't help feeling like there was no way it could end well, but he hadn't said so for two reasons. One: Alois Trancy would not be denied something he wanted even if it turned out to be harmful to him. Two: Ciel had had the hopeful feeling in his chest that maybe it would be all right.

That feeling had made absolutely no sense until Sebastian mentioned that reincarnation business. It was possible he had known Alois before; it certainly would explain why Ciel conversed with a person that he would ordinarily try to avoid.

The blond in question scoffed. "If Claude fucked me up, I'd kick his ass myself." Maybe that wasn't totally accurate, but Ciel didn't need to know that. "I'll kick Sebastian's ass, too, if he does anything." They **were** friends after all, and Ciel specialized in psychological warfare, not physical violence.

That one made the other boy blink. Then he gave something that was more of a smirk than a smile. "I'd rather you didn't try it. It'd be a horrible mess to clean up, and after what happened to Ms. Berkly and Melissa Thompson I'm more than certain that Mr. Faustus wouldn't be pleased with you."

Ciel didn't have to wait long for Alois' reaction."Don't act like a damn angel, Ciel – you wanted that slut in heels to back off just as bad as I did. The vinegar was your idea, and we both did the time. As for the other bitch – you can't prove I did anything to her." Alois propped his head up in his hands, elbows resting on the table. Yes, it was bad manners; Claude and Ciel had both said so a hundred fucking times. Just like he had told them he didn't give a shit a hundred fucking times.

The blue-haired boy made eye contact in all seriousness. "You declare war on this girl and the next day Mr. Faustus announces her transfer. I don't believe in coincidence, Alois. I had to track down which school she went to just to convince myself that you didn't kill her and dump the body somewhere." He opted to leave out the part about making Sebastian help him in the searching and how he **had** been expecting to find a dead body. Ciel still remembered the first day he met Alois, and if that hadn't proved what the boy was capable of when provoked, then nothing did.

Alois scoffed. "Yeah – fuckin' – right. Claude wouldn't let me." At the skeptical look he got from his best friend he insisted. "It's true! Claude won't even tell me what he did to her and it's starting to piss me off." The blond had nagged and pried but Claude was perfectly silent on the subject, so the boy regretfully settled for knowing that he had Claude and the slut was gone. Well, settled for **now**, anyway.

Ciel's expression turned pensive at that. Sebastian did weird things like that, too. He'd do something extraordinary, or at least, something Ciel wanted to know more about. But when asked he'd just say he was 'one hell of a teacher/cook/anything else' or tell Ciel that 'ignorance was bliss', even when he knew fully well that the boy hated that expression.

Ciel shook himself from his thoughts when he realized that Alois wouldn't be happy with him if he didn't give some sort of reply. "At least he chose you over her."

That earned him an eye roll. "Of course he did. How could Claude **not** choose this?" A delicate-looking hand gestured to the whole of Alois' body. "But I'm not gonna let him treat me like some fucking kid who wouldn't understand it even if they had it spelled out for them." An unspoken 'I'm crazy, not stupid' hung in the air.

Ciel nodded. He might not want to admit it but he agreed with what the other was saying. He hated being left in the dark; ignorance always cost you things. This was, in fact, a question he'd asked himself before. If it ever came down to it, which would he rather keep: his peace of mind or Sebastian

He wasn't sure the answer he'd reached was the right one but he was pretty close to beyond caring.

As impulsive as he was, Alois must have thought about it too, right? Asking wouldn't hurt. "What if it was something that a person isn't meant to be able to handle? Would you still stay with him?" As he said it, Ciel wasn't sure just who the question was really meant for.

A blond brow was quirked in the boy's direction. "If you keep thinking too much your head'll explode." Alois took another drink from his soda. "DUH! Of course I'd stay with Claude – he's got to be at least ten years older than me. If that didn't get rid of me, Claude's going to need a fuck of a lot more than a couple of maybe-creepy secrets to do the job. If I died, for any reason, I'd haunt his ass." Never being one to keep the tone heavy, Alois smirked. "Did you analyze how far you'd stick with the asshole for, too?" He teased.

Ciel shot him a look for insulting Sebastian again, but chose to nod instead of returning fire.

"Weeeell?" Alois asked, now leaning over the table. "Spill it."

"All the way to hell."

The blond boy was quiet for a second before grinning and getting up so he could drop an arm around the other's shoulders. "About damn time you figured it out. Now would you quit treating this shit like life and death?"

Ciel huffed, wondering how they had ended up sounding like two girls gossiping about their boyfriends. "Is there anything you want to do here or are we just going to keep talking about our relationships?" he asked instead. Time to change the subject.

Alois rolled his eyes. "Geez, Ciel, say 'lover' and get on with life." His hand was swatted away by the other. Taking this as a way to gauge Ciel's current irritation, he answered. "Yeah. Claude's taking me shopping and I want to plan it."

Ciel stood up. "Does this also depend on your grade on the test?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, yeah." The Trancy boy huffed. "You can ride my ass and make me study later. **Okay**? Now let's go!" Snatching his best friend by the shirt sleeve Alois proceeded to drag the other towards the girls' clothing shops.

The blue-haired boy noticed this and groaned. Fine. He'd let Alois drag him around and overall embarrass the crap out of him. He'd get his revenge when Alois asked for help studying.

_That sounds like something Sebastian would do_. Ciel noted with a vague sort of distaste. He had to hand it to the older man; it was an effective method.

Then he remembered that studying while trying to tutor Alois was nearly impossible. "Just because I'm helping you with this test don't think I'm giving up my own studying."

As expected, Alois just kept dragging him along, completely ignoring the futile statement.

_No use arguing it_. Ciel told himself. _I signed up for this the day I became friends with him. _Not that he regretted it.

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading. I hope you liked it. Now that I have this update off my concience I'll be going into work soon. Outside. In 93 degree weather. Ugh... Oh well, it's a paycheck. Hope to see you all again soon. (bows again)


	12. Test Results

A/N: And now for the moment you've all been waiting for. The grade Alois got on his test~! Thank you all for being so patient and I sincerely hope that you like it. (bows)

Disclaimer: There is a rumoring running around the site about me not owning Kuroshitsuji. I just wanted to tell you that it's true. I don't own them, but maybe in the future I'll own some more of the merchandise.

* * *

**Test Results**

* * *

_A few questions were answered in an irritated fashion._

Alois wanted to slam his head into his desk. Why the hell was he taking this fucking stupid test again? Oh yeah, he had a bet with Claude. At least he got to watch the teacher and half the class shit themselves when he had walked in five minutes late.

_Another few were circled. At least this part was multiple choice_.

Besides, Claude had yet to get what was coming to him. Alois had planned out their shopping trip and that was what they were doing first. This way he'd have something new to wear on their date. And there was no 'if's to it – he was going to get that grade, dammit! Ciel wasn't a tutor from hell for nothing. He was also part of the reason that Alois had gotten a passing grade in Science last year.

He didn't know how, but Alois was blaming Sebastian for Ciel's hellish tutoring lessons.

_One last answer written, with five minutes to spare._

Alois looked down at his test paper and tried to double check it. If it was wrong then he had no fucking clue where or how.

The timer sounded and the students turned in their tests. Alois was sorely tempted to just skip the rest of the day and fuck the consequences. He revised his plan when he remembered that Claude's class was next. Stay for English, then skip the rest of the day and fuck the consequences.

The blond laughed when he realized the odds are the "consequences" would be "Claude".

Students continued to exit the classroom but none of them commented. It **was** Alois Trancy, after all.

* * *

"Calm down." Ciel said as Alois paced around the blue-haired boy's room. "If you wear a hole in my floor you're going to be the one who pays for it."

When the Phantomhive boy had gotten home from school that day he'd found his best friend sitting on his couch, soda in hand, surfing the television. Apparently, Alois was going to let Claude wonder where he was for a bit before he went to see him.

That still didn't explain how he'd managed to break into Ciel's house this time.

The blond finally stopped pacing and looked at him. "Why hasn't he called yet? I've been here for hours!"

Ciel sighed. As usual, his friend's distress had to do about Claude. "He would have only just gotten out of school, too, you know. This wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't left early."

Alois looked at him as though he'd grown a second head. "You really need to spend a little less time studying and a little more time dating Sebastian or you're gonna die a virgin."

The other boy felt his face heat up at that and glared. "Sebastian and I are just fine the way we are." He retorted.

The blond scoffed. "Does he think so?"

"We are **not** having this conversation." Ciel said resolutely. It was bad enough that Alois had talked about their dating lives in public; there was no way they were going to discuss their sex lives. Privately or otherwise.

His friend smirked at him. "Okay, prude."

Just as the blue-haired boy was weighing the pros and cons of throwing a pillow at Alois, said boy's phone went off. Ciel was still trying to figure out what had prompted his friend to set 'Shiver' as Claude's ringtone.

* * *

For once, Alois was excited about Biology class. He'd be getting his grade for that damned stupid test today and then he could go back to happily ignoring Biology and planning his date with Claude.

The Biology teacher was royally confused about this. Alois Trancy was **happy** to be in his class? The same Alois Trancy who always showed up late **if** he showed up at all? This could not be right. Any minute now, something catastrophic was going to happen.

He handled the test results like they might explode as the class started passing them around.

Alois snatched his paper from the stack and the student behind him had to grab the others before they hit the floor. Barely paying attention to the angry hiss from his classmate, the blond looked at his test results and grinned. He then promptly stood up, giggling to himself as he walked out of the classroom.

The teacher released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and went ahead to start the new lesson.

* * *

The door to Claude's classroom opened and the blond all but skipped inside. "Claude! I got my grade today!" He waved the paper in front of the older male as he shut the door.

Claude looked at Alois with his usual blank expression. "Shouldn't you still be in class?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "What's the point? I don't need to know that shit anyway." Alois draped himself over Claude's immaculate desk and waved the paper above the man's head. "Don't you want to see how I did? Aren't you curious?" He grinned as he continued to tease the demon.

Claude sat still in his seat. He could tell by the way the blond's eyes sparkled that the result was at least eighty percent. If Alois hadn't been able to get the grade he wanted he would be pissed right now. There was no need to get worked up about the exact grade; Alois would run out of patience and show him soon enough.

Sure enough, Alois frowned and dropped the paper so Claude could see it. Just when he thought he'd made some progress it turned out that Claude was just as stoic as ever. "Did your doctor say that emotions were bad for you or some bullshit?"

The demon ignored the question and looked at the grade on the paper. 100% was in the top right corner in bright red ink. He looked up at Alois who had a mischievous smile back on his face.

"So," Alois said in his best 'seductive voice'. "About that something extra..."

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: That's all for now. I hope you liked it. I am off to try and get the next one started and maybe get some decent sleep for once. (yawns) Hope this tides you over until then, thank you for reading.


	13. Shopping Trip

A/N: Hello everyone. I finally managed to get over my writer's block enough to finish the shopping trip between Claude and Alois. To Black Maya, since I haven't worked up the nerve to write a lemon I hope you can use your imagination with the first part of this oneshot.

Disclaimer: I have a volume of the manga on loan from the library! That counts, right? ... Maybe just a little bit? ... Okay, fine, I do not own Kuroshitsuji. (goes to sulk)

* * *

Shopping Trip

* * *

_"Claude, please! If it's you, I... You're my Highness!"_

_"To say that of a mere butler..."_

Claude opened his eyes slowly. He hadn't dreamed about that day in a very long time. He felt the bed shift beside him and Alois' bare skin coming into contact with his own.

"Claude?" The blond asked sleepily, rubbing one of his eyes. "What time is it?"

The demon turned his head to look at the digital clock behind Alois. "Seven thirty-five."

"Shit." The blond breathed out. He climbed on top of Claude to lay on the man's chest, not really caring about the nakedness of either of them. "It's too fucking early; go back to sleep." He inhaled his lover's scent and sighed in sleepy contentment. "I'm too tired to go again yet." He mumbled. Not that the demon had asked.

Claude raised a hand to run through Alois' blond hair while the boy's breathing evened back out. The man silently marveled at how easily the blond fell asleep in this lifetime. He looked calm and peaceful. It was hard to believe that the boy sleeping on Claude's chest could ever be either of those things.

By the time Alois was awake this event would feel like something that had been imagined. Which was why the demon found himself committing the image of the sleeping boy's face to memory. It would be awhile before this happened again.

As a demon, Claude didn't **need** to sleep. But seeing as Alois didn't know exactly what he was, it was important to go through the motions of being something a little closer to human. For now, at least. He sincerely doubted that he was going to be able to keep it from the blond forever.

But that was a concern for another time.

* * *

Alois' eyelids fluttered sleepily and he muttered something incoherent. He didn't want to wake up. His blanket was soft, his Claude was warm, and he was still sleepy. But he hadn't forgotten his plans with Claude so on a whim he cracked an eye open to check the time –

And nearly hit the ceiling.

"Fuck! It's fucking noon already?" This had not been part of his plans even if he **had** been up all night. His eyes snapped from the clock to the man he was lying on top of. Claude was watching him with the same blank expression as always. "Why didn't you wake me?" The blond demanded.

"Forget it." He said without waiting for a reply. Alois shoved the covers off and climbed out of the bed. "I want eggs for breakfast!" He called out just before entering the bathroom.

Claude waited until he heard the shower running to get up and dress. If he had been someone else he might have wondered if telling Alois he looked cute when he slept would have distracted him. Being who he was, and having spent as much time with the boy as he had, Claude knew better.

Seeing as he couldn't shower until Alois had gotten out, Claude went into the kitchen to start on breakfast.

* * *

When the blond stepped out of the shower he took a moment to look at himself in the steam-fogged mirror before trying to wipe it down.

A blurry blond and skin colored outline was all he could make out. Wiping down the mirror, Alois leaned closer and looked again.

A smile stretched over the blond's lips as he touched the faint marks on his collar bone. It was a reminder of just how possessive Claude could be if he wanted to. And even if Alois couldn't show them off, it was something about the older man that was only for him.

* * *

Alois skipped out of the dressing room and did a quick spin. "Ta-da. How about this one?" They had gotten to the mall just a little under an hour ago and the blond had immediately marched into one of the stores and proceeded to pick out clothes.

The boy was currently wearing a powder blue blouse. A girl's blouse.

Claude couldn't help but take some amusement in the fact that Alois' taste in clothing still hadn't changed. "It's too small." The demon said, noting the fact that the lower part of the blond's stomach was visible.

The blond crossed his arms across his chest. _That's the fricking point._ Anyone who thought seducing Claude Faustus was easy had clearly never tried it. Not that Alois would ever let **that** happen.

Alois started unbuttoning the blouse, ignoring the fact that he wasn't currently in the dressing room. He grabbed a purple dress, and if he hadn't been pissed at Claude, he might laughed at the clerks' expression as he stalked back into the dressing room. You'd think she'd never seen a boy in drag before.

Ciel might have said Alois wasn't cautious when he went out with Claude. But Alois would just have to remind Ciel that if he swallowed his pride and put on a dress once in a while, going on a date with Sebastian would be that much easier. Might even help him get that cherry of his popped, too.

While Alois was in the dressing room, Claude went through the racks to select things he wanted the boy to try on. He had been the one in charge of Alois's wardrobe in the blond's prior lifetime, after all. The clothes he chose were a bit more gender-neutral than what Alois had been trying on up until this point, but some of the colors and designs were certainly more like what the boy would have picked himself.

Just as he had set his selections down for a moment, Alois came out of the dressing room.

"Claude," He said with a frustrated pout. "I can't get the zipper in the back." The blond turned around with his back facing the demon, a silent command in his actions.

Claude reached over and zipped it up. It wasn't stuck; Alois had probably been unable to reach it. At least that was what he thought until he saw the plotting smirk on the boy's face. Ah, it seemed today was one of the days where the blond was seeing just how much he had to say or do to get Claude to do what he wanted.

Alois took a few steps away from Claude and spun around in the dress. The skirt was only about knee-length and the ruffles called subtle attention to the boy's legs. "We're getting this one." He said with a smirk as he grabbed Claude's selections to try on.

* * *

By the time they were done looking at clothes, Alois had added one shirt, two pairs of shorts, and the dress to his wardrobe.

Claude looked at the box inside one of the bags he was carrying. The blond had picked out something and had it gift-wrapped, saying that he was going to be giving it to Ciel later. Seeing as it came from the girl's boutique, the golden-eyed demon could only imagine how well the gift would **not** go over.

The man was snapped out his thoughts when blond hair and blue eyes bounced back into his vision.

"Come **on** Claude, quit dragging your feet." Alois snagged his teacher's hand and proceeded to drag him towards the nearest shoe store.

Claude Faustus would be a sight to see when he was weighed down with shopping bags.

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry this took me so long, I don't know if I will have the next one written any faster. In any case, I hope this was worth the wait. (bows) Thank you for reading.


	14. The Dress

A/N: (peeks head around the corner, waves white flag) Hello. Please don't kill me. I know that this took a really long time to show up and that it probably isn't what you were hoping for. As you may remember from last chapter, Alois bought a present for Ciel. This chapter explores that. Also, this chapter is dedicated to my beta because, well, she knows why. Thank you for being so awesome, Hilaire.

Disclaimer: No, this chapter did not take so long because I suddenly gained ownership of Kuroshitsuji. It's still not mine.

* * *

The Dress

* * *

"No."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"It's **pink**."

"So? Did you want it to match your eyes? Just have Sebastian help you put it on, if you get that far."

"Alois," Ciel said in a threatening voice that was not quite a growl. Ever since a certain school play, the Phantomhive had swore to himself that he would never let anyone talk him into a dress again.

Especially not Alois Trancy.

The blond boy (who was dangerously close to being seriously injured) shrugged. "You were the one who wanted to know how I got away with going on dates with Claude." His voice came out as dismissive as Alois could possibly make it. Being who he was, it also sounded teasing.

Ciel's fist clenched around the pink material he was holding in his hand. "You mean to say that you dress like **this** for dates?" Impossibly blue eyes stare at the garment in shock, not surprised about **Alois** doing such a thing, but the implication that it worked.

"Sometimes. Mostly when I'm trying to get Claude to look at my legs." The look on the blond's face clearly stated that he hadn't had much success on that front.

Wasn't that also why Alois wore shorts? The blue-haired boy looked back at his best friend. "Well, **I**do not want Sebastian to look at my legs." He said in his best decisive voice. Ciel released the fabric from his grip in favor of crossing his arms across his chest.

The other boy rolled his eyes. "So you let him pick your clothes for the hell of it? Bullshit."

The Phantomhive opened his mouth to protest but shut it quickly. Sebastian **had** just sort of slipped into the role of picking his clothes for him, hadn't he? Since he didn't try to make the boy look overly childish or feminine, Ciel hadn't paid much attention to it or called the demon out on it.

He'd been too busy trying to salvage his dignity when he started dreaming about how Sebastian used to dress and undress him. Every. Single. Day.

Taking Ciel's silence as an admission of defeat, Alois drew his face closer to the other's. "Just call me if you want help putting it on later." Without giving his friend a chance to protest, the blond straightened up before walking away. "Anyway, I need to figure out what to wear for my date. See you around." And just like that, Alois sauntered off like he owned the place.

The Phantomhive boy scoffed to himself and shoved the dress back into its box. He absolutely did **not** need it.

* * *

Ciel stared at the clock on the wall of the classroom. Five minutes. Only five more minutes and he could get out of here to see Sebastian. But as was usual when one wanted the time to pass quickly, those five minutes were taking forever.

He caught himself idly toying with the thought that perhaps Alois was right and the school clocks **were** broken. This was ridiculous, of course. They worked fine the rest of the time. Alois only had trouble with them because he hated to wait for anything.

It wasn't long until the bell finally rang and Ciel hurriedly packed up his things and exited the classroom.

He was just outside Sebastian's classroom door when he saw a woman talking to his demon from the window. The boy didn't need to see her blushing face or the way she tried to subtly show her cleavage to know why she was there.

Normally, Ciel would have waited in another room for the slut to leave and then gone to collect Sebastian like nothing had happened. It wasn't like Sebastian was cheating on him – the boy knew damn well that those women were always turned away.

But today it bothered him more than usual. Even as cleavage-lady was being shot down, Ciel felt a bubble of irritation rise in his chest. He supposed the fact that he couldn't be more open about his relationship with Sebastian was finally getting to him. Or could he? It wasn't really something he wanted to do if he could help it, but one last look at that woman in Sebastian's classroom made up his mind for him.

The blue-haired boy went into the men's bathroom and ducked into one of the stalls. Pulling out his cell phone, he hit the speed dial that he had assigned to Alois.

* * *

Sebastian was confused and a little concerned when Ciel never showed up. He tried to come up with a list of places where the boy might be. If he was going home by himself today (which was often), he would have let the demon know first. And so, as much as Sebastian hated to admit it, the quickest way to find Ciel was to ask Alois.

... and the quickest way to find Alois was to talk to Claude.

The key to their success as co-workers had always been a lack of communication. Admittedly, this often proved difficult due to the close relationship between their respective humans in this lifetime, but they managed. This meant that they didn't seek each other out to talk unless it was work-related. Needing to find Ciel, however, **was**a legitimate excuse. Now if only they could conduct the conversation relatively peacefully.

The History teacher knocked on the door to Claude's office and waited patiently for the other man to acknowledge him before he stepped inside.

Claude glanced up at the person who had entered his office and did a discreet double take. What in the fresh hell was Sebastian Michaelis doing in his office? It was sorely tempting ask the crimson-eyed demon if he had lost his mind but Claude stopped himself in time. "May I help you?"

Sebastian schooled his features into a neutral expression in attempt to conceal his distaste for being there. "Do you know where I can find Alois Trancy?" It would have been nice if Claude would just give him the answer so he could get the hell out of there.

Unfortunately, Claude Faustus had never been in the habit of doing Sebastian any favors.

In Claude's defense, he assumed that Alois had mouthed off to Sebastian in class again, and was now skipping out on his punishment. "Do you need him for detention or a lecture?"

The History teacher silently cursed the fact that he couldn't just say 'yes'. Alois would tell Claude about it later and he didn't need the silent mocking that would come from the man if he took that route. "I need to ask him something."

The golden-eyed demon quirked an eyebrow ever so slightly. "And what would that be?"

Sebastian hesitated. "Ciel didn't come by my office today and hasn't called me, either."

There was a hint of mockery in Claude's voice. So faint most anyone else would have missed it, but Sebastian noticed. "So you don't know where he is?"

Sebastian gave a slight downturn of his lips and faintly bristled at the slight. "He doesn't follow me around like a lost kitten, unlike someone else I could name. Though if Alois didn't, I'm certain you'd keep him on a leash."

Claude chose not to grace this with a response, although the lazy smirk on his lips clearly indicated how amused he was by the other demon's defensiveness. "Aren't you the one on the leash here?" he asked instead. The English teacher never failed to point out that while Sebastian and Ciel had 'outings', they couldn't exactly be called 'dates'.

Crimson eyes narrowed at the other. "That's my choice" With that, Sebastian strode out of the office as calmly as he could. Well, that plan had been a failure. Perhaps he should just call Ciel himself. Hopefully, the boy wasn't in a situation where he wouldn't answer the phone.

* * *

Maybe this was a bad idea. Ciel looked at himself in the mirror and gulped. Why had he told Alois he was going through with this plan? _Because Sebastian __i__s involved._Carefully, he touched the reflection in front of him. It would work. There was no way that Ciel Phantomhive would humiliate himself for nothing.

Just then Alois walked out of the bathroom and grinned. "Getting in touch with your feminine side?"

Ciel scowled. "Be quiet," he snapped. This was degrading enough without Alois adding commentary.

The blond just shrugged and walked up behind his best friend. "We looked pretty fuckin' good."

The Phantomhive tried to ignore the comment. "I don't see how these dresses make it publically acceptable. Instead of looking like a homosexual pedophile, Sebastian will look like a heterosexual pedophile." No real improvement, as far as Ciel was concerned.

"That's what the make up's for," Alois answered offhandedly.

_Make up?_ Ciel's mind ground to a brief halt. His friend had **not** mentioned make up when they started this.

The other boy grabbed his best friend by the dress sleeve and led him into the bathroom. "Come on, Ciel. Do you want to look like a girl or a gay boy in a dress?"

The blue-haired boy silently swore vengeance on the Trancy as he was dragged into the bathroom.

* * *

In truth, the make up didn't turn out as bad as Ciel had thought it would be. Alois was actually very careful with it, and in the end, Ciel didn't look like an over-painted teen trying to look twenty-five. "Do I even want to know where you learned to do this?" he asked. He somehow doubted Alois' mother was desperate enough for a daughter to teacher her son about cosmetics.

"Hannah."

This comment was followed by Ciel's phone going off. The boy checked his caller ID. "It's Sebastian." The blue-haired boy took a moment to compose himself before answering. "Hello?"

"Ciel." There was a note of audible relief in the demon's voice. "Where are you right now?"

"At home. I had to take care of something here," the young Phantomhive answered vaguely. Taking a deep breath to build up his nerve, Ciel moved onto the next part of his plan. "I want to go out somewhere... with you." Heat rose to his cheeks at the last part.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. Sebastian was probably processing what he had just heard. This wasn't typical Ciel behavior, after all. "Shall I pick you up from your house then?"

The boy started at that. "No!" he exclaimed a bit too forcefully. Clearing how throat, he corrected himself. "No. Meet me at that ice cream parlor we went to last week."

"Alright. I'll see you then, Ciel."

"Bye." With this said, Ciel hung up. He stared at his phone screen for a moment. He really hoped he wouldn't regret this.

Alois was leaning against the wall with his usual 'I was around Sebastian' expression. "You do know that you're going to be 'fashionably late', right?"

"..." _Damn._

* * *

When Sebastian first got to the specified meeting place, a quick scan of the area told him that Ciel wasn't there yet. But that couldn't be right; Ciel wasn't in the habit of being late. Crimson eyes scanned over the people present again. His gaze lingered on the girl in the pink dress whom he had initially thought was there with her boyfriend. Closer inspection proved this to be inaccurate. The demon suddenly smiled to himself.

"I said go away," Ciel hissed through clenched teeth. He should have known that this was a bad idea. If this jerk did not leave him alone right now, was going to get slapped hard.

The taller boy leaned in a little closer. "Come on, you're too pretty to be here by yourself."

"Would you kindly leave my niece alone?" Both boys turned their heads to see Sebastian Michaelis standing there with a cool, if not frightening, smile.

To his credit, the boy that had been pestering Ciel had enough sense to back off in a hurry.

Ciel's attention quickly shifted to the man in front of him. "You're late."

The demon's smile became something more teasing. "I apologize." Red eyes flickered over the boy's choice of attire. "You look lovely, my lady." He offered an arm. "Shall we?"

The feeling of déjà vu itched at the back of Ciel's mind. This whole scene felt distantly familiar, but the Phantomhive couldn't place it for the life of him. Giving up on it for the moment, he ignored the man's arm and walked out to the waiting car. Even if he was in disguise as a girl, there were some things he just wasn't doing.

By the time Sebastian got into the car, Ciel had buckled up and was waiting. "Is there anywhere you wanted to go?" the demon asked as he pulled out of the parking spot.

Ciel averted his gaze to the window. "I don't care. Anything's fine." In truth, he hadn't thought that far ahead. On the occasion that they went out somewhere, Sebastian had always been the one to choose the location. It had never occurred to the boy that it might be different this time.

Sebastian arched an eyebrow at that. This situation had been odd to begin with, but it was getting stranger by the second. Just what was going on here? Placing that aside for now, the demon put some thought into where they could go.

Ciel kept his gaze fixed on the window as the car moved along. Looking, but not really seeing. Where would Sebastian take him? With this get up, he really did look old enough to be the man's girlfriend. His very short girlfriend, but still.

They pulled to a stop in front of a building that the boy had never seen before. He waited for Sebastian to come around and let him out of the car. Normally he'd say he could do it himself, but he was supposed to be acting like a young lady right?

"Where are we?" he asked, as his door was opened and he stepped out. Much to his dismay, the only reply that Sebastian offered him was a mysterious smile. Lying was against the rules, but Ciel had never said anything about simply not answering.

Once they got inside the building, Ciel's eyes widened. Blue eyes fixed Sebastian with a cold glare. "You know what I think of dancing," he hissed. It wasn't the best known fact that Ciel Phantomhive had been born with two left feet. It was embarrassing, so he tried to keep the knowledge as limited as possible. But that didn't change the fact that Sebastian and Alois were both aware of it.

His glare was met with another smile from the raven-haired man. "All the more reason for me to show you how enjoyable an experience it can be."

A hand was offered, and by this point the boy was sure that the demon was just doing this to mess with him. "Fine," he huffed, and accepted Sebastian's invitation to the dance floor, "but we leave when I say."

The demon gave a nod of agreement and urged Ciel into the correct position for a waltz.

It wasn't very long into this venture before Ciel was winded and feeling stupid for his missteps. Why did Sebastian have to be so damn tall, anyway? This would be much easier if the man was closer to his own height.

Sebastian himself noticed the other male's heavier breathing and led him away from the dance floor. "We really must work on your stamina. For a young lady to be tired after only one dance…" he trailed off, leaving the rest up to personal imagination.

Ciel scowled at him, momentarily forgetting about the dress. Sebastian was insulting him and he had that weird déjà-vu feeling prickling in the back of his mind. He was just about to tell the man that they were going to leave **now** when the sound of someone clapping drew the attention of both of them.

It was some pretty strawberry-blonde woman and the boy could already feel his irritation firing up. He knew where this was going.

She approached them both, eyes roving appreciatively over Sebastian. "You're a wonderful dancer, sir."

A polite smile appeared on the demon's lips. "Thank you, miss."

If he were Alois, the Phantomhive would have been sorely tempted to do something drastic to this woman to get rid of her. As it was, he cleared his throat and gave his best 'girl voice'. "Shouldn't we be going?" He tugged at the man's sleeve for emphasis.

The woman's eyes now flickered over to him. "Is this your sister?" Sister? She was going to write him off as Sebastian's **sister**?

The bubble of irritation began to rise further in the blue-haired boy's chest. He glared, not caring if it was unladylike. This wasn't the 1800s and it was pretty clear that this woman was declaring war.

Sebastian moved his hand to Ciel's shoulders and offered the lady one of his nice, but disquieting, smiles. "No, this is my girlfriend, and we really must be going." He led Ciel to the door, leaving the lady dumbstruck. Well, that plan had spun out in flames. So much for having a proper date. "Is there anywhere else you'd like to go, Ciel?"

"Home. I want to get out of this damn dress," the boy said and, not for the first time, promised himself that he wasn't going to listen to Alois' crazy ideas anymore.

His progress was halted by the demon firmly grasping his wrist. When Ciel turned his head, intending to ask the man just what he wanted, Sebastian kissed him. Right on the mouth, just outside the building and in full view of others, Sebastian Michaelis kissed him.

For just a minute, Ciel forgot that Alois' ideas weren't to be listened to and that this wasn't why he had worn this damn getup. Although, somewhere along the way it was hard to keep track of why he had humiliated himself like this in the first place.

"As you wish," the demon said, and led the boy back to the car. Ciel was going to have to explain the point of all this once they got home. After all, the boy hadn't specified whose home they were talking about.

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: That's all. I hope it was worth the wait. (bows) Thank you for reading.


	15. The Date

A/N: I wouldn't be surprised if one of you guys tried to shoot me for as long as it has taken me to get this chapter written. (Sees guns pop up) Hold it! Hold it! I didn't mean that you actually **should** shoot me! (waves white flag) I could regale you with the story of my life starting with just after Thanksgiving but I really don't think you want to hear me griping when you came to read the chapter. The only thing I will say on the matter is that because of what happened I don't have any idea when I will be able to work on much of anything for awhile. (bows) Please enjoy the chapter, I hope it was worth waiting for after all that hype I gave it in prior author notes. And one more thing, special thanks to my beta, Hilaire. As always, she's been a huge help with this.

Disclaimer: I own a blue butterfly necklace, but I don't think that that counts as owning Alois or Kuroshitsuji.

* * *

The Date

* * *

Alois rifled through his closet, throwing clothes on the floor as he went. He was going to have his hard-earned date with Claude today. He already knew which pair of shorts he wanted to wear; it was the pair that the blond had purchased on his shopping trip not long ago.

Maybe a blue shirt would be best, something that matched his eyes. The blond scoffed at that thought. It wasn't like Claude would even freaking notice.

In the end, Alois picked out a blue shirt anyway. It was supposed to be a bit chilly today so he chose a long-sleeved one with a large dark blue butterfly on the chest. Since the boy had already picked where he was having Claude take him for their date he chose a comfortable pair of shoes that went with his outfit.

After a quick touch-up in the mirror, Alois deemed himself ready to visit Claude. He could have just called the demon but he wanted to see him in person. Getting out of the house might be tricky if his parents were still home. He didn't need them asking where he was going on the weekend all dressed up like that.

Quietly, the blond slipped out of his room and tiptoed around the house to make note of where everyone was. There was nobody home – good. Alois made sure to get out the front door as quickly as possible to ensure that he didn't bump into anyone coming back.

The trip to Claude's apartment was uneventful. Alois knew the way by heart, including the scenery that he rarely paid close attention to. His mind was full of Claude, where Claude must be in his morning routine by now, whether or not Claude was thinking about him while he made tea, had Claude left the door unlocked for him. Claude, Claude, Claude.

By the time he was done with his musings, Alois found himself staring at Claude's apartment door. He took out his key and stared at it a long moment. It was tempting to just pick the lock to see what sort of reaction he could get out of Claude by doing so, but Alois found something special in letting himself into Claude's apartment with a spare key that had been made just for him. Nobody else in the world had a key to Claude's house and Alois damn well knew it.

So even though he wanted to surprise the man, he used the key.

The living room was empty when Alois walked inside. Everything was as pristine as it always was when the Trancy hadn't spent the night and succeeded in keeping Claude so busy that he couldn't clean it up.

Alois shut the door somewhat loudly and grinned. "Claauude!" he called in a singsong voice as he walked into the kitchen where he was almost positive Claude was waiting. (He hadn't memorized Claude's morning routine for nothing, after all.) "I'm home."

Claude was facing the stove, his back to Alois. "Good morning," was all he said, still focused on making breakfast.

Normally the boy would have been slightly put off with the lackluster greeting, but that was cut off by his grin when he realized that the table was set for two. Claude **had**been thinking about him today.

Happily plopping down into his seat, Alois tried to look over at the stove to see what Claude was cooking. "I want french toast with breakfast," he said, idly kicking his legs back and forth.

"Yes."

The blond crossed his arms and scowled. "Dammit Claude, look at me when you talk."

Expressionless golden eyes held a gaze with a pair of irritated blue ones. "Yes," their owner said in the same monotone voice as before.

"And try some fucking emotion! Birds are going to start shitting on you if you keep acting like a damn statue all the time."

Breakfast proceeded in this same manner, just like it always did.

**0*0*0**

Claude gathered the dishes and put them in the sink while Alois tapped his foot impatiently. "Come **on**, Claude. We don't have all day." Maybe this wasn't the most accurate statement but the blond was really looking forward to their date and waiting for the man to wash dishes was **not**on his to-do list.

It didn't take long for Claude to finish, but the waiting seemed like an eternity to Alois just the same."About damn time." This didn't change the fact that a split second later he skipped over to the man and grabbed his hand. "Let's go."

Claude allowed Alois to drag him out the door, stopping only to lock up. He had no idea where they were going today. He'd left it for the blond to decide, and despite the large grin and general antics of the Trancy, he had yet to drop the demon so much as a hint.

So finding out that they were going to the amusement park was as expected as much as anywhere else Alois could have picked to go. Said blond was clinging to his arm like an adoring girlfriend while they looked around in order to make up their mind where to go.

Alois' blue eyes strayed over to a ball-toss game, the kind where you had to knock over bottles to win a prize. _Is Claude good at games like that?_He couldn't really picture the man doing something like this by himself for any reason. Alois smirked to himself as an idea came to his mind. This was a date after all. "Clauude," he said, tugging at the sleeve of the man's dark button down shirt to get his attention.

The blond waited until Claude stopped walking and looked at him with his golden eyes before finishing his thought. "I want that," he said, pointing to a random stuffed animal. From this distance it appeared to be a rabbit. "Win it for me."

Claude was quick to realize the point of all this. After all, Alois had 'just happened to choose' one of the top prizes. Nonetheless, he walked over to the booth and paid for three balls.

As to be expected, the demon won said purple rabbit while making the carny wonder** j****ust how the hell he did it**.

Alois' lips pulled down ever so slightly at Claude's success, but he couldn't be too upset when the demon handed the stupid toy to him. Claude **had**won it especially for him, after all. The boy then looked over at a rollercoaster and grinned. Maybe **that**would get a reaction from the demon. "Let's do this next!"

Three roller coasters and one time on the bumpers cars later found Alois scowling to himself as he tried to think up another idea. There had to be **something**that could get a reaction out of Claude, right? Anything was fine– just as long as it gave him more personality than a cardboard cut-out.

When all else fails, go back to the basics. Alois hated to admit it, but that was a golden rule in just about anything. Besides, it was better than just standing around doing nothing. "Clauude," he called, grabbed the older male by the arm. "We're going on the ferris wheel next."

Not giving the demon time to protest (not that he would have anyway), the boy began pulling him over to the ferris wheel insistently.

**0*0*0**

Unlike Alois' other choices that day, the ferris wheel was slow and peaceful. Not fast or frightening in an attempt to wrench a reaction from Claude. The demon was just contemplating the possibility of it being a shock tactic when the ride lurched into motion.

Alois kicked his legs back and forth, waiting for the ride to get fairly high in the air before looking out the window. "I can see my house from here," he giggled as he spouted the horribly cliché line he had seen in more movies than he cared to count.

"That's impossible," Claude said in a neutral voice. Alois didn't live anywhere near here and they couldn't possibly be that high up.

The Trancy gave a slight frown. "Fine then. I can see **your**house from up here."

"That's also impossible."

"You could at least look over here and fucking **pretend**to be interested, Claude."

"Yes, your highness." Following Alois' example, Claude looked out the window on the blond's side so that they were taking in the same scenery.

Alois could feel the demon at his back as the ferris wheel cart kept moving. When they were somewhere near the top, Alois leaned back into the body behind him and looked up so he was staring into the man's face. "We're on a date, Claude." The words sounded like a statement, and were phrased like a reminder but Claude caught what Alois was driving at.

Act like it.

An arm came to rest around the blond's waist.

It wasn't what the Trancy had wanted in the least. Claude's blank expression could hardly be called romantic, and by now the mood was pretty much shot. But since throwing a fit would just wreck what was left of the date, Alois shut his eyes in resignation and tried to imagine that Claude was smiling at him right now.

**0*0*0**

"Only you could go through a whole damn date without even smiling once," the blond said sourly.

No way in **hell**was their date ending like this. If he had to drop a snow cone down Claude's shirt and make him look like an idiot in sheer retaliation, he would.

Not like that would actually work. Alois had already done things similar to that in the past with no success. Mother fucking hell this was a bitch.

"Is there anything else you want to do, your Highness?" Claude asked as he watched the boy walk ahead of him. It would an idiot of unimaginable ignorance to miss the fact that Alois was in a bad mood right now. Remedying it probably wouldn't be the easiest thing in the world to do.

As it was, Alois pointed to a photo booth. "Here," he said sharply, the purple rabbit still in the blond's grasp was squeezed a little bit tighter at that.

In some detached part of his mind, Claude wondered how much longer it would be before Alois squeezed the stuffing out of it. Disregarding the thought, he followed his ex-master to the photo booth.

'Not the easiest thing in the world'? That had clearly been an understatement of epic proportions. Then again, when it came to describing any aspect of Alois Trancy, most things were.

**0*0*0**

Alois huffed in irritation and stomped his foot lightly as he walked into the photo booth. "Really Claude, you're an awful boyfriend. You won't smile, you barely talk, and you have all the color of a bloody funeral. Sometimes I don't know what I see in you."

Both of them knew that most of the Trancy's ranting was solely for the sake of it. And maybe he didn't know what he saw in Claude but that was only because there weren't words for it yet. But Alois was not about to say that – there were some things out there that were just too sappy to even be **thought**.

So, putting the rest of his tirade aside for later, Alois turned to face the shutter. He could finish chewing Claude's ass tonight and then go back to sleeping on the couch as further punishment. Thunderstorms and blackouts be damned – that demon was **not** getting any for while.

It was a few seconds later when Claude called out to the boy to get his attention. "Alois."

When Alois turned his head to face Claude he thought that he saw the man's golden eyes smirking at him again. Before he got a good look, however, Claude had already leaned in and kissed him.

The stuffed rabbit hit the floor with a soft 'thud' as Alois remained still. Well, he hadn't seen this one coming.

By the time the blond's brain had caught up with the rest of him and informed him that the demon hadn't stopped yet, he heard the shutter click.

After they stepped out of the booth, Alois looked at the picture critically. It wasn't Claude smiling or any shit like that. But it was something better. It was proof. Whether it was proof that Claude loved him or that the man was capable of doing something without being told first, Alois wasn't sure.

But it was proof, and that was good enough for now.

0*0*0

"…So it kinda sucked but my ass will be staying in Claude's bed because he didn't fuck it up that bad," the blond concluded, grinning stupidly.

Ciel looked up from the history book he hadn't really been reading and stared at Alois, who was hanging upside-down on the Phantomhive's bed. The whole thing was really just life as usual but that didn't stop the other boy from putting in some of his input. "You had to know that it was going to be like that." Seeing said stupid grin still in place after the comment, Ciel flicked a page in the book he wasn't looking at. "I really don't get what you see in Mr. Faustus, of all people."

Alois thought back to the picture sitting in his wallet and his grin widened. "What about you and the asshole?" he shot back, rolling over onto his stomach.

Just watching Alois was enough to make Ciel slightly dizzy. "What makes you think I see anything in him?"

The blond boy rolled his eyes. "Like you'd date **anyone** for shits and giggles. Besides, you're hung up enough on him to read a Victorian history book outside of homework." He snickered at the blush Ciel was sporting as a result.

Ciel hastily shut the book with an audible sound. Dear Lord, he should have known that Alois was always crazy, but never stupid, and could even be scarily perceptive. It didn't help that he really had been reading the book in hopes of finding mention of his past self or Sebastian. There was no way someone as too perfect to be human as his History teacher was could have gotten through life without being mentioned **somewhere**. But in the interests of not sounding like a loon, he couldn't tell Alois that. Not yet, anyway.

He settled for putting a palm to his face to express his exasperation. "Why are we friends?" he asked rhetorically.

The fact it was rhetorical didn't stop Alois from answering. "Who else would you be friends with?"

That statement was true of both of them. Ciel knew it, and in favor of nipping the oncoming nostalgia trip in the bud, went back to the original subject. "So even though it wasn't what you wanted, you were happy with it?"

It took Alois a second to remember what the hell it was his best friend was talking about. "Yeah, now I have to plan the next one. Claude is hopeless with shit like that." He giggled as he said it, feet kicking back and forth in the air.

Ciel was the one to roll his eyes this time. He had a distinct feeling that Alois was going to make him help plan it again. But, he supposed, that was just one of the things that came with being friends with the blond, and that wasn't likely to change anytime soon.

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: See? Not too bad, right? Okay, okay, I know that I still made you wait way too long on that and I can't promise that the next chapter will be up any sooner. But at least it's been updated, so I feel better now. Belated Happy new Year, and stay safe.


	16. Art With Alois

A/N: Something this short should **not** take this long to write. (bows, sweatdrop) I am **extremely** sorry for the wait. Dad is finally home since his stroke happened but everything is still up in the air. As I said, this is short and possibly not my best work for these two so I want to sincerely thank everyone who has stayed with this story so far. I am truly grateful.

Disclaimer: I OWN... some new ds games. That's it.

* * *

Art with Alois

* * *

Whoever thought that art should be mandatory in a school that Alois Trancy attended ought to have their head examined. Given the fact that most of the assignments left the details up to the student's imagination, it was a miracle that the blond had yet to traumatize their teacher into retiring.

Then again, their Art Teacher was an elderly woman who was as stubborn as all hell and scaring her off was easier said than done.

Today's assignment was to draw a picture of someone you know as a child. You didn't have to know what they actually looked like as a child, just draw what you thought they'd look like.

And if that didn't make the warning bells go off in your head, you had never shared an art class with Alois.

The blond twirled his sketching pencil around in his fingers. First he had to pick a target. He could always draw Ciel; he had seen pictures of his best friend when he was younger.

Alois shook his head. That was too easy. Besides, Ciel would probably get pissed off and not talk to him for the next few days. Childhood could be a touchy topic for both of them.

_Shit! Who that fuck am I supposed to draw!? _

Then a thought occurred to him that made him giggle. Why didn't he think of it sooner? He could draw Claude! The demon refused to tell him anything about his childhood despite Alois' occasional badgering. This would be killing two birds with one stone.

Suddenly very excited about the project, the blond teen started drawing Claude's face. His cheeks would have to be kind of round and chubby – all kids had chubby cheeks as far as Alois knew. And Claude must have been born with that deadpan expression. He probably startled the shit out of the doctor who delivered him.

That thought brought a whole new round of giggles to Alois so he had to stop drawing for a minute to avoid messing up the picture. By now he had attracted attention from some of the other students, but they were all smart enough not ask.

The idea of drawing Claude being short was odd, but there was no way around it. In fact, the blond was more than a little convinced that there was no way Claude looked like this. Then again, the words "Claude" and "kid" existed on polar opposite ends of the universe. That was a fact of life.

Next came the glasses, because only Alois was allowed to know how Claude looked with his glasses off.

In truth, picturing it was hard but the boy had already asked himself all of these questions before. Did Claude ever smile as a kid? Maybe he hadn't listened to his mother and his face froze that way? What kind of clothes did he wear? Had his skin always felt the way it did now? And that led to all the questions about what Claude's life had been like growing up. It was an absurd number but that didn't stop Alois from wondering. It was only natural that he wanted to know everything about Claude. Claude got to know everything about him, right?

The end result looked more like a chibi Claude than Claude as a kid but Alois was satisfied with it. It was as close to looking like a kid as Claude Faustus would ever get. Which cemented the theory that Claude had been born fully grown or simply wasn't human.

Now to find out what Claude thought of it.

* * *

Alois made a rectangle with his hands and tilted his head to the side.

Claude, who was standing a little ways behind the boy, watched quietly. The blond had decided that the picture he had drawn in art class was so good it deserved a proper place of glory on the English teacher's refrigerator.

He had even gone as far as to add that the fridge was as blank as the demon's own expression. Despite being the wonderful lover that he was, Alois demanded a standard level of clutter so that he knew for certain Claude still lived there when he came to visit.

The man had decided to let Alois have his way and not point out how many of the boy's possessions had already taken up permanent residence at the apartment. The blond was happy, and that was good enough reason for him not to comment.

After a few more seconds of scrutinizing, Alois made a satisfied sound in his throat and put his hands back down. "Y'know Claude, we need to buy you some refrigerator magnets and shit. I'm fucking serious, the only pictures you have are the ones I gave you." From there the blond went into a rant about the lack of personal effects that the demon possessed.

Claude was only half-listening to the boy. If it were anyone but Alois talking to him right now the man would consider it odd that he found the atmosphere peaceful. But as Claude and Ciel could both tell you, this was as peaceful as Alois got.

And the moment wasn't all that likely to last, it was never long before the blond was off causing some sort of chaos out of boredom or for the sake of getting his teacher's attention.

Before the demon could follow that lane of thought any farther, Alois interrupted him by putting his arms around the other's waist. "Clauuude," the boy half-whined as he hung from the man. "You never told me what you thought of my picture."

Claude adjusted his glasses perfectly calmly. He supposed it was hardly fair to hope that his once-master had forgotten about that. "It doesn't look like me."

"That's because you make a crappy kid," Alois shot back with a frown. He really had done his best to get it right. But Claude wasn't easy to draw to begin with, drawing him as a kid was just fucking insane.

Golden eyes peered down at the child who was now refusing to look at him. He must have accidentally hit a nerve. The English teacher reached up a hand and placed it on the blond head. "It's very good," he said. Alois didn't say anything in reply but Claude felt the hold on him tighten.

When the Trancy looked up again he had another smile on his lips that spelled trouble and mischief glinting in his icy blue eyes. "We're going shopping tomorrow."

"Yes, your highness."

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: Well, there you have it. I'm off to slap my writer's block around and see what I can get done as a result. Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. (bows)


	17. Dream Journal

A/N: Hey, look! It's an update!~ (throws confedtti) Okay, so it's drabble-tastic. But I got it written a lot faster than the last one. Anyway, I'm not sure what to make of this one or if I should be posting it at all because I've been feeling pretty squirrely lately. I hope this is coherent and that you all enjoy it. (bows)

Disclaimer: I don't even own COPIES of the manga volumes, much less the manga itself. (mushroom sigh)

* * *

Dream Journal

* * *

Blue eyes popped open and Ciel quickly rolled over to flick on the lamp on the bedside table. He winced at the sudden brightness in the dark room before pulling a notebook and a pen out of the desk drawer.

He flipped the book open to a fresh page and started writing. Something his therapist had said back when he'd bothered to see one was that a dream journal could help you process a traumatic experience. Ciel still thought it was a crock, but writing down what he remembered of the dreams made his head feel less full.

People he knew kept cropping up in them. His "aunt", Madam Red, looked scarily like the school nurse. Finny, Mey-Rin, Bardroy, Soma, Agni, Elizabeth – far too many people he knew kept showing up in them for comfort.

He was beginning to think that he was getting the dreams of this past and facts of the present muddled together. There was simply no way that he could be here with all of these people again.

It didn't help that most of the people that the blue-haired boy saw in his dreams died. More often than not, horribly. It was like watching a tragedy that someone stretched out for as long as they could. At least he hadn't seen Alois yet. Somehow, that was a comfort. The blond was his best friend, and he didn't want to see him die under any circumstances.

As the page filled with words, Ciel felt his eyes begin to droop again. This was ridiculous. Here he was, worrying over nothing. Even if it was real - there was nothing to be done about it now.

As he put the notebook away he wondered if he would ever show it to Sebastian. One day, perhaps, when the demon was finally willing to start talking about the past properly and not skirt around the important topics by saying it wasn't safe for Ciel to know yet.

They'd talk about everything then, in the future. Because if there was one thing that the blue-haired teen knew for certain, it was that Sebastian would still be there in the future. He always was. Even when the Phantomhive wanted to handle something on his own, the crimson-eyed demon was only a shout away.

_Not even a shout__,_ a voice in the back of his mind said. It sounded like it was him, but at the same time it was different in a way that Ciel couldn't explain. It spoken with pride and confidence that he himself was quite familiar with. _He'd come to my side if I _**_whispered._**

Those words floated around in the boy's mind for his remaining few seconds of awareness.

Always. Sebastian would always be there.

* * *

End

* * *

A/N: There you have it.I'm sorry that Sebastian wasn't actually **in** this chapter. But at least Ciel's spending lots of tie thinking about him, right? I hope it was worth the wait and helps to make up for the long periods between chapters that have been happening fo recently. (bows) Thank you for reading. May we meet again at the next chapter.


End file.
